(i) Before the discovery of the sea routes, America had been cut off from regular contact with the rest of the world for millions of years. But from the sixteenth century, its vast lands and abundant crops and minerals began to transform trade and lives everywhere. (ii) Precious metals, particularly silver, from mires located in present day Peru and Mexico also enhanced Europe’s wealth and financed its trade with Asia. Legends spread in seventeenth-century Europe about South America’s fabled wealth. Many expeditions set off in search of El Dorado, the fabled city of gold (iii) With the discovery of sea routes three types of movements or flows became prominent. i.c\. the flow of goods, labour and capital.