Explain what we mean when we say that the world ‘shrank’ in the 1500s.
Model Answer & Options
Source: TextbookThe phrase "the world shrank" in the 1500s refers to the dramatic increase in global interconnectedness. Before this period, continents and societies were largely isolated. With the discovery of sea routes to Asia and the Americas by European explorers, a new era of global exchange began. For the first time, people, goods, ideas, crops, and even diseases started moving across vast oceans. This created new links between continents, making the world feel smaller and more accessible, effectively "shrinking" the perceived distances that had separated different parts of the globe for millennia.
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