Historians differ on what they think about the net result of the European arrival in the New World. Considering that the Columbian Exchange, which refers to “exchange of plants, animals, people, disease, and culture between Afro-Eurasia and the Americas after Columbus sailed to the Americas in 1492,” led to possibly tens of millions of deaths on the side of the American Indians, but also enabled agricultural and technological trade (Henretta et al. 42), I cannot help but reflect on whether the effects should be addressed as a historical or a moral question. The impact that European contact had on the indigenous populations of North America should be understood as a moral question because first, treating it as a historical question is difficult due to lack of reliable historical evidence; second, the meaning of compelling historical claims is contestable as the academic historian perspective tends to view the American Indian oral history as invalid; and finally, what happened to the native Indians is morally repulsive and must be discussed as such.
The intended audience of the article “ The Columbian Exchange- a History of Disease, Food and Ideas” are scholars and students.The article has large amount of statistics provided about the amount of production of certain foods in certain countries, the amount of exchange between the old world and the new world and the top consuming countries for various new world foods.The foods discovered also includes their benefits and harms.
The Age of Exploration occurred from 1400 to 1700 C.E. It is famously known as the Age of Exploration because it was a time when explorers from Europe travelled by sea to explore west of them, and make many geographical advances. Exploration was motivated by gold, glory, and God. Along with their motivation, the Europeans also wanted to find trading partners, new goods, new trade routes, and simply find new land. With exploration, there were many good effects and many bad ones. Today, there is mainly recognition to the how amazing the explorers are for what they discovered, but there is no recognition to what harsh decisions they made in the process and the many problems they caused. In modern times, European explorers, conquistadors, and settlers
During the late 1400s and the early 1500s, European expeditioners began to explore the New World. Native Americans, who were living in America originally, were much different than the Europeans arriving at the New World; they had a different culture, diet, and religion. Eventually, both the Native Americans and the European colonists exchanged different aspects of their life. For example, Native Americans gave the Europeans corn, and the Europeans in return gave them modern weapons, such as various types of guns. This type of trade was called “the Columbian Exchange.” However, the Columbian exchange didn’t always benefit both the Native Americans and the Europeans. Diseases were also exchanged, specifically to the Native Americans. Whether the exchanges were positive or negative, the Columbian exchange had a huge global effect, both immediately after the exchange and long-term. The Columbian exchange caused inflation in Europe, change in hunting habits of Native Americans,change in farming habits within Europe, and a large decrease of Native American populations.
The development of agriculture and the rise of industrialization generated new cultures and innovations in the new world. Native people in early America developed cultural distinct , men were in charge of the fishing, hunting, jobs that were more exposed to violence, and the women stayed closed to the village, farming, and child bearing. The way of life possessed by natives Americans did not compel them to conquer and transform new land. As opposed to European colonizers, Native Americans subscribed to a more “animistic” understanding of nature. In which they believed that plants and animals are not commodities, they are something to be respected rather than used. This ideal way of life clashed with the worldview of Europeans. Early European colonizers believed that because Native Americans were not using the vast amount of land which included forest to maximize their profits, then they were justified for colonizing North American land. This settlement led to the enslavement of people, worldwide distribution of diseases, and transfer of goods that shaped America to what it is today.
During the early 1400’s European exploration initiated changes in technology, farming, disease and other cultural things ultimately impacting the Native Americans and Europeans. Throughout Columbus’ voyages, he initiated the global exchange that changed the world. The exchange of plants, animals, and diseases between the Old and New World began soon after Columbus returned to Spain from the Americas. These changes had multiple effects, that were both positive and negative. Although the Columbian Exchange had numerous benefits and drawbacks but the drawbacks outweighs the benefits.
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”.
On October 12, 1492 Christopher Columbus, and his crew came, upon some islands that they believed to be part of India. Not long after it was revealed that they had in fact come across outlying islands of an entire continent unknown--to most Europeans--before then. Columbus’s “discovery” resulted in the connecting of three landmasses, Europe, Africa, and the Americas. This affiliation--referred to by historians as “The Collision of Worlds”--allowed for a network of trade to erupt across the Atlantic. It was not favorable to all, though. The collision of worlds was both, revolutionizing and desolating for the Americas due to new wares, crops, and disease. It was beneficial to small portions of Africa and its inhabitants, but dreadful for a vast
During the late 15th and early 16th centuries, eExplorers from Europe had made vast advancements on traveling methods and shipbuilding and had new methods to travel the world. Due to needs for faster trade routes or access to new markets, most powers, starting with Portugal, had started sending Explorers to find different ways to trade and navigate. This would eventually lead them to the New World where they would meet people of different culture. Explorers during this period have many positive and negative effects on the natives. Europeans indirectly killed off native with diseases, enslaved natives with cruel slave methods, and tried to completely erase the native cultures in place of the typical European cultures and religion. As the Europeans found native along the coasts of the New World, they found them easily malleable and able to be used, so they enslaved them and those who fought back were wiped out.
Throughout the late 1400’s and the 1500’s, the world experienced many changes due to the discoveries of new lands and peoples that had been never been visited before. The new-found lands of the Americas and exploration of Africa by the Europeans led to new colonies and discoveries in both areas. It also brought different societies and cultures together that had never before communicated, causing conflict in many of these places. While the Europeans treated both the Native Americans and West Africans as inferior people, the early effects they had on the Native Americans were much worse.
Europeans began exploring the Americas in late 15th century. This had many effects on both the land of the Americas and the Native Americans that inhabited them. Many of the Native American cultures perished with the coming if the Europeans while some survived. A good deal of the Native American cultures that did survive, were very small. The Europeans did not mean to find the Americas, in fact, they were on a voyage to find a new route to Asia and The Indies. There are many effects of the Europeans voyages to the Americas that have effects on today’s society.
Throughout the Age of Exploration, trade and colonialist desires ruled the world. After Christopher Columbus's journey to the New World in 1492, the Columbian exchange progressed rapidly, bringing enormous changes to both the old and new worlds. Despite the positive contributions such as horses and new types of food, the Columbian exchange also brought a multitude of illnesses including the deadly smallpox (1). Although Thomas Bailey argued in the American Pageant that the “Black Legend” is inaccurate, it is clear that the devastation brought upon the Native Americans proves its accuracy through the erasure of identity, the spread of epidemics, and the immoral crimes that the Spaniard colonialists committed against the native population.
The end of the fifteenth century is attributed as the time period in which Christopher Colombus “discovered” the Americas. Although he was allegedly the first European to have reached these unknown lands at the time, many sought to reach the new world, for a variety of reasons. Most of those people could be divided in two: the settlers and the conquerors. In North America, there were more of the former, people looking for a new home where they could rebuild their families and lives. In Meso-America, however, the goal was to exploit the lands in order to produce and extract new goods which they could trade. Despite the different outcomes they were trying to reach, both held a common truth: natives and African slaves were both lesser than Europeans,
The Columbian exchange became a major factor in the development of the “Old World” and the “New World”. The Columbian exchange started during 1492 between major European powers such as the Spanish and Portuguese and the Native Americans of the Americas. The exchange was started by Christopher Columbus, who is the person who discovered the Americas. The Europeans brought plants, animals and diseases along with them to the “New World” (Americas), plants such as wheat, barley, oats and grapes were brought in by the Europeans. Furthermore, they brought in animals such as horses, cattle, pigs and sheep and in return took back precious metals and few crops such as
The Age of Exploration, starting from the 15th century and lasting until the beginning of the 17th century, was a period of time in which the Europeans explored the Americas and Africa while searching for a more efficient trade route with Asia. However, the Europeans did not just discover this lands, but also made use of them and the native population.The causes of the Age of Exploration were “God, Gold and Glory” which effects were the expansion of Christianity, importation of precious resources into Europe and colonization of new lands.