The high technology in the ships of the Portuguese gave them an advantage over other countries, becoming the most powerful navigators during those two centuries. Portuguese trading focused mainly on obtaining gold, ivory, and pepper; but in addition to these products, so prized in Europe, it is estimated that more than 175,000 slaves were also carried on Portuguese ships to Europe and the Americas in the greatest migration of people during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
It did in the long run. In the short run it created many issues because there was a rise in extremism, in southern states especially. For starters, racists didn't want to desegregate their schools and public places so they didn't enforce the decision of the court throughout the entire next decade. Another thing is that organizations that were illegal like the Ku Klux Klan started getting power and harassing innocent African-Americans. It did create a litigious environment however because suddenly there were many more cases regarding desegregation and they had the court's precedence support so they were easily won because of the way the legal system works. It didn't lack legal justification, the only problem was enforcing it before the civil rights acts were passed and the country started battling racism systematically in all of the United States.
Since we don't have the available answers, let's see what were the <u>main causes</u> of the Dust Bowl devastation:
I) Mechanization of agricultural operations. Because of World War I efforts food production had to grow which increased wheat prices. This caused an enormous increase in the size of farms and in the rhythm and size of their crops that weren't accompanied by adequate care of the soil.
II) Farming in the Great Plains. Because of several federal land acts since the 19th century, many farmers were settling in the plains believing rain would come once farming started. This and the belief in Manifest Destiny made people farm in regions where irrigation couldn't reach.
III) The Great Depression. In order to compensate for the decreasing wheat prices, farmers tried to plow up even more land and harvest bigger crops. This led to the plowing of native grassland that kept the soil stable.
IV) Drought. In 1931 started a drought caused by a lack of rain that would end only in 1939. This killed the crops and left the soil exposed. Without grassland and with the winds the soil was blown away in dust storms.
I believe the answer would be the last option. A resource has value, and people are willing to pay for it most likely because the resource is scarce. When a resource is not enough or the supply is low as compared to its demand, then most likely that price or value of it would increase.
