"life changed dramatically and forever after 1492 for both the new world and the old world. some of these changes were good, and some were bad." explain the meaning of the quotation.

The consequences of the discovery were several, both for Europe and for America, and both economic, social, political or cultural.

CONSEQUENCES FOR AMERICA :

The economic consequences for the Americas include the introduction of new crops adapted to the American climate. The best example is coffee. Today the best coffee in the world is that of South America, both Colombian and Brazilian. Wheat was introduced by Spanish friars in Ecuador.  Among the social consequences arise the most dramatic: mass mortality of Indians (wars, forced labor and new epidemics), introduction of two new races (white and black), and mass racial crossing between Indians and whites: mestizos. Between the political consequences the fall of the pre-Columbian empires takes place: Aztec, Mayan or Inca, between the most outstanding, as well as a whole Indo-American global culture. Among the cultural consequences, European culture is introduced in all areas of life, sometimes incorporating indigenous features. Aboriginal culture is relegated to the religious or family spheres: pre-Hispanic rites are adapted to Catholicism, and the old Quechua, Aymara and Nahuatha languages are preserved, among many others.

CONSEQUENCES FOR EUROPE :

Among the economic consequences, it should be noted how American crops adapt to the European climate and revolutionize the eating habits of the Old Continent: potatoes, corn or tomatoes, which saved thousands of people from hunger. The ultramarine trade develops greatly and even exceeds the interior, revolutionizing prices (inflation) and port cities such as Seville or Lisbon. Among the social consequences we must highlight the millions of Europeans who emigrate to American lands for more than four hundred years. Stresses the phenomenon of the Indian: the case of the emigrant in America who left his village with nothing and that returns rich to its population of origin over the years. The European commercial bourgeoisie is enriched by this ultramarine trade and achieves its social ascent, preparing its future "revolution" in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Among the remarkable political consequences is the birth of European empires: Spanish, Portuguese, English, French or Dutch, and wars between them for the dominance of the riches of the American continent and new territories. Ocean piracy is the most significant phenomenon of wars on the high seas, covered by successive metropolitan governments. Also the frequent attacks to American ports on the part of the European navies. In 1494, as soon as America was discovered, the Castilians and the Portuguese were divided over by the signing of the Treaty of Tordesillas, through which Brazil would be part of the Lusitanian possessions to Indonesia, while the Castilians would dominate the rest: from the Philippines to the border with Brazil. Among the cultural consequences say that almost total knowledge of the world was stimulated, with travel and geographical expeditions: first round by Elcano, after the death of Magellan, knowledge of new species and minerals, geodesic dimensions, new cartography, etc.

What was the length to begin with?