Advantages And Disadvantages Of The Columbian Exchange

Diseases only found in the European world, such as smallpox, spread to the Americas due to people migrating with these diseases. Since natives did not have diseases like these, they were easily killed off by them. These diseases ended up killing 90 percent of the population native to America. The large number of deaths allowed the conquistadors to greatly outnumber indigenous people and easily capture the now weak tribes. Some may point out that the American diseases must have also affected the Europeans.

The Effect of European Exploration and Colonization on Native Americans Everyone knows that the colonization of Europeans on the Native American’s land has been disastrous to its people. The exploration of these new lands did not start with Columbus as most of us have been taught, instead stretching back all the way to the fifteenth century A.D, when millions of Native Americans lived in the America’s rather than the small amount we reduced them to. The Europeans brought other things than death to the Native Americans, however.

Although The Starving Time caused most of the settlers in Jamestown to perish, more settlers kept coming from overseas. Also under the leadership of John Smith Jamestown’s population grew gradually overtime. However, as the population grew People decided to continue expanding towards the west. Unfortunately, this was in direct opposition to Powhatan’s plan of restricting the Europeans from expanding and making allies with other Indian Tribes. If the English settlers were able to gain aid from other tribes, the dependence on Powhatan would be undermined.

Panicked,European empires,like Spain and Portugal started financing trips,specifically to India where they had the largest diversity of food,animals and spices known at that time. Once a certain fellow named Christopher Columbus found Hispaniola (modern day Cuba),every European empire reaped the monumental economic benefits that was provided by the Columbian Exchange. The Columbian Exchange promoted trade,specifically the trade of agricultural commodities. It integrated many parts of the world,supplying items to nations that needed goods,and sold items on the marketplace when there was a strong demand.

Portugal and Spain even presumed to divide the world in two by seeking the Pope's blessing on the Treaty of Tordesillas, which drew a line through north and south through the Atlantic, giving Portugal the lands east and Spain the lands west. Portugal actually lost in the long run because the lands that they "received" were already claimed by empires that did not recognize the Portuguese claims. The French and English did not arrive in the Americas until the 17th century, but when they did, they claimed much of North America in areas that the Spanish did not go. The trade routes that appeared during this era in the Atlantic Ocean were collectively known as the Great Circuit. The routes connected four continents: North America, South America, Europe, and Africa, and they linked directly to the old water trade routes established in previous eras.

The natives never having past exposure to such diseases, died in the masses due to their bodies not having any defense against them. Cows, pigs and other livestock were able to transfer diseases to the Europeans. Although since Europeans have been domesticating such animals for thousands of years, they simply grew immune to theses diseases and infectious epidemics on grand scales likelihood grew smaller and smaller from it. But for the Natives, they never had livestock nor large mammals like horses of pigs ever. Their bodies were taken by surprise by the highly advanced diseases that were trying to infect robust european bodies.

After the Spanish made some fortunate discoveries in South America, the English were determined to strike gold in the north, however, they would soon find out that this “new country” was not so perfect. In the Spring of 1607, about 100 colonists sailed to North America and created an English settlement called Jamestown (Roden 49). Upon their arrival, they discovered that Jamestown was home to some 1500 Powhatan Indians, and, because the colonists didn’t bring the right people to defend themselves from Indian attacks, many people died (Roden 49). The colonist also didn’t bring enough people to ward off disease, drought, or famine.

Columbian Exchange Notes Funded by the Spanish, an explorer named Christopher Columbus set sail westwards in 1492 in search of a faster trading route to the Asias, but instead what Columbus found was a land separated from Europe for millions of years, North America. Columbus’s discovery of North America had many profound effects on the world, one of the greatest being the founding of the Columbian Exchange. The Columbian Exchange was a form of commerce between North America and Western Europe. The establishment of Columbian Exchange held both positive and negative repercussions, one positive repercussions being agricultural growth due to all the newly discovered crops and flora and one negative repercussion being the introduction of European diseases to the New world that resulted in the death of approximately70 million North American natives. After news of Columbus's discovery spread to the rest of Europe, many explorer sailed to North

The Downfall of the Native Americans The conquistadors came to the New World to conquer the land and everything they could gain from it such as gold, money, gems, and power. While the Native Americans had a few advantages over the conquistadors, having a larger population and already having set cultures throughout their nations to name a couple the conquistadors would succeed in subduing the Native Americans. The Europeans were successful in their endeavor for a few reasons; environmental factors, technology and tactics. One of the main factors that allowed the Europeans to take over the Native Americans was diseases; smallpox, typhus, and measles being the main killers. Europeans unknowingly brought over diseases with them causing epidemics and a huge depopulation among the Native

Jackson wanted the Indians removed so their land could be used to grow cotton. More cotton meant more goods which lead into a better economy. Early in the 19th century the United States was growing rapidly into the lower south. Growing down south was a problem because Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw and Seminole were settled there. Americans were desperate to expand so the citizens convinced the federal government into acquiring Indian territory.

The worst infectious disease which annihilated almost all of the Native American people was Small Pox. Small Pox was an Old World disease which was very contagious, disfiguring, and often deadly. The people of the Americas had no exposure to this kind of disease so when it struck them, they didn’t understand what it was, or how to cure it. So, when the old world people entered Americas, they bought their plants, animals and diseases which they already had exposure to, leading to their population growth, in contrast to Americas where the population declined due to lack to exposure to Old World life. In conclusion, the Columbian exchange changed the way of life of people in both the Worlds.

Earthworms had long been extinct in North America since the Ice Age but started spreading back there following Columbus’ voyage, in result they greatly changed landscapes; aerating soil, making it easier for some plants to thrive, while diminishing others habitats. As a result, the earthworm started transforming America, as did another item, tomatoes. The common culture is most certain that Marinara sauce made with tomatoes must have originated from Italy, but in fact the commodity was actually indigenous to Mexico and only brought over to Europe in the sixteenth century. Without the mass dispersion of products throughout the globe sparked by Columbus we wouldn’t have the cultural diffusion that shows such presence on todays society.

New England’s economy depended on these immigrations, and with the decrease of settlers, the economy had to thrive on something else, and it did. A new economy based on the merchant class flourished. Puritan communities where well ordered communities. Men where the leaders of households and of the communities. Women where of lesser value, though they took great care of children and the homes.

The European conquest on the peoples had a great impact on the ecologies of the Americas, both positive and negative. In the beginning, for example when Francisco Pizarro began his conquest of the most powerful state in the New World, the Incan Empire, he brought many new things. He brought the knowledge of utilization of domestic animals, such as cattle and horses, to be beneficial to the whole society. The knowledge of using their muscle to capitalize on productivity of farmland, something that the Incas never had. James Diamond supports this by showing the great geographical advantages that the Europeans, especially the Spanish, had to their Incan counterparts.

During the age of discovery there roamed many great explorers from England, Spain, Portugal, France, and many other significant countries to this time period. Without theses courageous men, America might not have been what it is today. Individuals praise explorers for discovering and making the New World what it is today, but many overlook the bad that had been done. The worst things that have been done in history are enforcing religion on innocent Native Americans , spreading various diseases to the indigenous people of the Americas along with other Europeans, and using American goods to expand trade, which had later lead to the start of the slave trade in many prospering countries striving for wealth. However, without these tragic events history would be completely different and the Americas would not be as we know them today