Question Group One: Chapters 16, 17, and 18: How did the Aztec and Inca Empires emerge in the 1400s? How was Spain able to conquer them? How did the Columbian Exchange, particularly disease, sugar, and silver, reshape the Atlantic world? What impact did Portugal and the slave trade have on Africa?Answer: The Aztec and Inca empires emerged in the central Andean highlands of South America. They both left their native highlands in the 1430s to conquer many neighboring cultures and large swathes of territory. The Incas and Aztecs based their expansion on a centuries-old heritage of technological, religious and political traditions. However, the Spanish were finally able to conquer the Aztecs and the Incas for several reasons. First, they brought diseases that neither group knew about and neither group could deal with. Secondly, they had advanced firearms technology and thirdly, the Aztecs believed that these Spaniards were the coming gods who were prophesied to come and end their civilization. Religion played an important role in the construction but also in the destruction of the Aztecs and the Incas. The Columbian Exchange helped reshape the Atlantic world. First, diseases brought by Europeans helped wipe out many of the new world's natives, making it easier for Europeans to conquer the land. European demand for sugar would eventually lead to the establishment of the Atlantic slave trade and force millions of Africans into slave labor to the Americas. Knowing that riches such as gold and silver existed further increased the interest of explorers and made many more want to travel to America. Portugal was one of the great nations that kept coming in and taking slaves to do their work for them in the new world. The slave trade made...... middle of paper ......west: money. Japan essentially withdrew from global connections and did not respond well to the arrival of Europeans. Unlike India, China and Japan imposed their isolation from the outside world and focused their efforts on consolidating their power. The Tokugawa took control from 1603 to 1867. They obtained selected information from the West, especially regarding science and technology. The Tokugawa improved their infrastructure and kept Japan in a self-governing mode. The Columbian Stock Exchange was still able to import money into China and Japan. The Qing was still able to expand westward despite being cut off from much of the outside world. They were able to annex Mongolia, which later served as a buffer against Peter the Great of Russia. Tibet and Nepal also fell to the Qing later. The Qing was still able to develop even though they were not dependent on the West..