<P> The Commercial Revolution, coupled with other changes in the Early Modern Period, had dramatic effects on the globe . Christopher Columbus and the conquistadors, through their travels, were indirectly responsible for the massive depopulation of South America . They were directly responsible for destroying the civilizations of the Inca, Aztec, and Maya in their quest to build the Spanish Empire . Other Europeans similarly affected the peoples of North America as well . </P> <P> An equally important consequence of the Commercial Revolution was the Columbian Exchange . Plants and animals moved throughout the world due to human movements . For example, Yellow fever, previously unknown in North and South America, was imported through water that ships took on in Africa . Cocoa (chocolate), coffee, maize, cassava, and potatoes moved from one hemisphere to the other . </P> <P> For more than 2000 years, the Mediterranean Sea had been the focus of European trade with other parts of the world . After 1492, this focus shifted to the Atlantic Ocean by routes south around the Cape of Good Hope, and by trans - Atlantic trade . </P> <P> Another important change was the increase in population . Better food and more wealth allowed for larger families . The migration of peoples from Europe to the Americas allowed for European populations to increase as well . Population growth provided the expanding labor force needed for industrialization . </P>

Among the new financial tools developed by european traders to facilitate commercial exchange were