Columbian Exchange Essay A distinguished historian named Alfred Crosby first coined the name “Columbian Exchange” to describe the exchange that happened from 1492 to early to late 1800. The term “Columbian Exchange" means the exchange of many different commodities, ideas, diseases, people, and colonization for many centuries around the globe. The Columbian Exchange was one of the most important events to ever happen in history. It shaped today's world in many ways. (Mcneil Britannica, 2023) Christopher Columbus Cristoforo Colombo was born on October 31, 1451 in Genoa, Italy. His name translated into English is Christopher Columbus. Columbus’ father, Deminico Colombo, labored as a wool weaver in Genoa, Italy. His mother, Susanna Fontanarossa, …show more content…
The Spanish brought many new things back to the old world from the new world. Gold and silver were brought to Europe from the Americas as well. (Horgan, 2023) Some of the animals from the new world include turkeys, alpacas, ducks, and llamas. There were many different crops taken from the Americas back to europe. Some of the fruits and vegetables included sweet potatoes, maize, chili peppers, squash, tomatoes, pumpkins, peanuts, vanilla, pineapple, eggplant, tobacco, cassava, cashews, carrots, corn, and potatoes. Some other crops included, cacao beans, sunflower seeds and sunflowers, soybeans, and green beans. When corn was brought back to Europe, Asia, and Africa it affected them the most. Because it grew in unfitting places for grains and tubers. They could also use corn to feed livestock such as pigs. It also produced several harvests a year. (McNeil Britannica, 2023) Potatoes changed many Europeans' lives when they were introduced to them. Potatoes produce faster, and because they grow in the ground unlike wheat and rice, they don’t topple over when they grow too big, which can be fatal to the crop. (Smithsonian Magazine, 2023) Some of the worst food crises in Europe's recent history were caused by an overreliance on potatoes in later years. A potato blight brought on by an airborne fungus spread through northern Europe between 1845 and 1852, with Ireland, western …show more content…
It then soon spread to Central America. Many native peoples died due to lack of immunity to the diseases transmitted by them. A number of diseases were brought over to the Americas from Eurasia and Africa. Native Americans were free of the acute infectious diseases, such as measles, smallpox, influenza virus, mumps, typhus, chicken pox, scarlet fever, swine flu, pneumonia, bubonic plague, syphilis, and whooping cough. Those diseases had long plagued the majority of Eurasia and Africa before 1492. These childhood illnesses had grown widespread in most regions other than remote villages, killing one fourth to one half of all children before they turned six years old. However, with the notable exception of influenza, survivors carried some level of immunity, and frequently absolute protection, to the majority of these illnesses. Yellow fever and falciparum malaria likewise made their way across the Atlantic from Africa to the Americas. Falciparum malaria is by far the most severe form of that plasmodial infection. These illnesses circulated throughout Native American communities as epidemics in the centuries following 1492. Mass violence, along with physical and mental stress, exacerbated their effects. The Caribbean suffered the greatest, with most islands' Native American populations having fallen by more than 99 percent by 1600. Populations decreased by fifty to
Smallpox was also a threat. One settler describes it as a “cloud over this province.” It drove off people and killed the people who stayed. It was also one of the major causes of the decline in the Native American population. There were definitely other kinds of diseases, but Smallpox was the most common.
The global interaction and exchange not only dealt with material goods and animals, but also disease. Natives in the Americas lacked immunity to various germs held by the Europeans, since they did not come in contact with other parts of the world. The death toll of many of the natives including the Inca Empire, Aztec, Mayan, the Arwak, and Taino on Hispaniola rose exponentially. The diseases that swept over the Americas also came from Africa, such as, yellow fever and malaria. Millions died while their cities and homes collapsed due to invasion, warfare, and
People who were native to the Americas did not have strong enough immune systems to easily overcome the new European diseases, so there was mass death and suffering. For example, smallpox was spread to the Americas. In the Florentine Codex, smallpox was described to be an incredibly miserable and indomitable disease. “The disease brought great desolation: a great many died of it. They could no longer walk about, but lay in their dwellings and sleeping places, no longer able to move…
Columbus returned the Americas and continued claiming islands as Spanish colonies. The Columbian Exchange (named after Columbus, though influenced by many) was one of the most important effects of Columbus' voyages to the Americas. Ships returning from the Americas brought with them foreign plants and animals that Europeans, Africans, and Asians had never seen before. These included pineapples, tobacco, cacao beans (chocolate), tomatoes, squash, and turkeys.
Europe was a vastly populated continent, and had been for centuries. Diseases such as smallpox, measles, whooping cough, chicken pox, bubonic plague, typhus, and malaria (Denevan) were brought into the new world. The new world was not as densely populated as the old, and when the Europeans arrived Natives of the Americas were immune to the diseases and began to
The Columbian Exchange, the transportation of plants, animals and diseases, had a dramatic impact on the agriculture and environment of both the Old World and the New World. For the New World, the foods and plants that were brought over were species that had never been seen before. The Europeans brought many grains such as wheat, barley, oats and rice. These products flourished in the rich, fertile soil of the new world. There were endless acres of land in which to grow these plants.
Europeans also introduced horses, cows and pigs. In turn the Native Americans gifted the Old World with gold, silver, corn, potatoes, tobacco, tomatoes, beans, vanilla and chocolate. The amount of silver in Europe tripled from the introduction of
Many of these diseases included smallpox, chickenpox, tuberculosis, leprosy, and even the measles. An interesting thing is that the europeans had also brought over malaria to the Incas, in the later years, and they Incas actually
This wave of migration for the Eastern Hemisphere to the Americas changed the way disease affected the lives of thousands of natives. Native Americans had not developed an essential biological resistance to diseases that were common in
The Colonisation of Latin America had a major negative impact on these indigenous people as the arrival in Latin America collided with 12,000 years of isolation from Eurasia which imposed many diseases on the natives. The natives were unable to fight of these diseases as they did not have the immune system for these types of sickness nor the appropriate medicine so many of them died as a result. These diseases included small pox, measles and influenza, bubonic plagues, cholera and tropical
It is estimated that approximately 95% of pre-Columbus Native Americans were killed by European diseases. Since the outbreak of the diseases spread because of the European colonization, it made conquering the Americas much easier. Health was definitely the most detrimental obstacle that the Native Americans had to face as a result of the European
However, not all of the aspects of the Columbian Exchange were positive. It is also important to realize that the Columbian Exchange can also be credited for the transmission of diseases which had adverse effects on both the Old and New World alike. Having no prior exposure to these ailments, the Indians were extremely susceptible to diseases. The scale of death in the Americas was overwhelming, 9 out of 10 people died in the hardest hit areas, and it was not uncommon to see 50% mortality in other
New foods were discovered by settlers in the New World in addition to new ways of planting, growing and tending to crops. One of the major implementations into the new world was the potato, which is now a staple in the diet of most countries. This crop saved some countries from famine when weather and predators ruined the large grain crops. The underground tubers became popular due to the higher nutrient content and shortened tending and growing time compared to the Old-World crops. Other introductions included corn, wild rice, tomatoes, and various nuts, beans, fruits, and spices that spread across Europe from Britain to Russia.
Plants such as tobacco, maize, beans, tomatoes, and especially the lowly potato eventually revolutionized the international economy as well as the European diet. In exchange, the Europeans introduced Old World crops and animals to the Americas. Over time, the variety of crops and foods widened for both the Europeans and the Natives -- as they were also, more accessible. The Natives were introduced to the firearms by Europeans and traded with them, whenever possible, since the nature of hunting and
The Europeans had brought with them a plague of misfortune with them across the sea. This being the main force of suffering the Natives had to endure. As Europeans thrived, the natives had to pay the price for all the luxuries the Europeans got with their health, freedom, integrity etc. This is throughly seen through the vase numbers that fell to disease that the Europeans brought. The Europeans had brought various diseases with them across the sea like smallpox, influenza, typhus, measles, malaria and more.