The Columbian Neo Indian Exchange, which happened in the year 1492 can be described as being an exchange of ideas, food, crops, diseases and populations between the New and Old world. The reason why this particular time period is of such importance is because not only would these events would have had an impact on the people living in this era but it would also change the future forever. I will be paying particular attention to some of the new things people of the New World would have been exposed to during the period. In this essay I will focus on crops, technology, livestock, disease and religion. Plants that were involved in the Columbian Exchange had an affect on the culture and state of economy with both the New and Old worlds.
During the thousands of years before the arrival of European contact, the Native American people developed an inventive and creative culture. They had created a very well round colonization among the extensive land. The year 1492 the Spaniards allowed for Christopher Columbus's voyage of discovery began a series of developments. Columbus traveling in hopes of finding faster route to Asia for trade and riches. While he never truly ended up there, the new found land was viewed as an opportunity for new riches.
Many trades and exchanges throughout history bring very diverse cultures together. Nothing like widespread exchange over two hemispheres had never existed before 1492. Even though the cultures participating in these exchanges were viewed as different since they lived on opposite sides of the globe, they also had many commonalities. The Western Europeans and the East Asians were impacted greatly by the Colombian exchange. The western Europeans destructed and changed most of what they encountered while the East Asians blended and assimilated into the “new” cultures.
During the early 15th century, there were thousands of groups of people with distinct cultures and languages spread across the Americas. Their lifestyles varied from hurters to farmers. Because of the diversity and complexity, civilizations rose and fell even before Christopher Columbus’s voyage. When Columbus sailed across the Atlantic Ocean, there were about 50 million people living on the Americas. Their lives drastically changed from the arrival of the Europeans.
European exploration of the West began in 1500 and continued to flourish for over three centuries. While colonizing this new land, Europeans first came into contact with the native peoples. European religious views, gender roles, and land ownership shaped their interactions with Native Americans. The English, for example, practiced Christianity, while the Native Americans possessed a more spiritual and animalistic religion. Native American societies were heavily reliant on women for not only household duties, but also agricultural responsibilities.
The Columbian Exchange refers to the monumental transfer of goods such as: ideas, foods, animals, religions, cultures, and even diseases between Afroeurasia and the Americas after Christopher Columbus’ voyage in 1492. The significance of the Columbian Exchange is that it created a lasting tie between the Old and New Worlds that established globalization and reshaped history itself (Garcia, Columbian Exchange). Worlds that had been separated by vast oceans for years began to merge and transform the life on both sides of the Atlantic (The Effects of the Columbian Exchange). This massive exchange of goods gave rise to social, political, and economic developments that dramatically impacted the world (Garcia, Columbian Exchange). During this time,
The term “Columbian Exchange” is used to describe the period of time in the fifteenth and sixteenth century following Christopher Columbus’ arrival to America (Crosby, 1972). This event kicked of a series of events that resulted in agricultural products, cattle, microbes, and ideas all being exchanged between America, also known as “The New World”, and Afro-Eurasian, also known as “The Old World”. These events would transform the entire world forever. Even though this term describes what took place starting in 1492, it was not until Alfred Crosby wrote “The Columbian Exchange” in 1972 that the term became widely accepted and used by most historians. Many of these ideas that were exchanged such as a written alphabet and new farming capabilities
The Columbian exchange is exactly what it sounds; it's what the new world and old world gained with the explorations of the America’s. The Columbian exchange sounds like a positive aspects but it carries both negative and positive connotation as the ‘Columbian exchange’ brought diseases, foods, and new ideas following the voyage of the ever-famous Christopher Columbus. The creation of the new world – about 90 percent of the native have disappeared, but “it was exchanges of animal and plants that made the new world possible”. The introduction of the new specifics of foods like, potatoes became essential to the old world, as it can grow In the soil of the old world that has been over used (Nunn). Corn was also brought from the new world to
The Columbian Exchange was the exchange of goods animals and plants from one country to another. The Columbian Exchange had many impacts. Some of them can still be seen today. One example is introduction of new species. Another is the slave trade that happened.
Quite simply put, Europeans viewed Africans and Native Americans as inferior to themselves. They were considered to be heathens and barbarians by the Europeans. And, at least initially, they were not Christian. It was believed that Europeans could save both Native Americans and Africans not only spiritually but also economically and socially. This type of attitude also most likely made it much easier for the Europeans to discriminate and exploit them.