Research by some scholars provides population estimates of the pre-contact Americas to be as high as 112 million in 1492, while others estimate the population to have been as low as eight million. In any case, the native population declined to less than six million by 1650.
I believe there is a book on the matter as well. Good luck. :)
The main reason why this was the case during the Renaissance was because art collection was a luxury, in that it required a lot of money. This made it advantageous for only the rich people to support it fully.
The Ottoman Empire dominated trade routes between Europe/the Mediterranean and Asia. It had a virtual monopoly over these trade routes from the early 1400s through the early 1500s. However, by 1500 European ships had become ocean-worthy and sailors (beginning with da Gama) found the sea route to Asia around the southern cape of Africa. Though the land route to Asia through Ottoman territory was shorter and more direct, the ocean route around Africa could be faster and was not vulnerable to blockade by the Turks. The Ottoman Empire gradually lost some of its wealth due to the shifting trade, but it remained the singlest greatest power in Eastern Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean until the late 1600s.
<span>So, the most important impact of the Ottoman Empire on global trade was that its power in the 1400s and 1500s forced European nations to invest in ocean-going navigation and exploration in order to sail to Asia rather than go through Ottoman land routes.</span>
