The Effects of the Colombian Exchange
The Columbian Exchange was the transferring of animals, plants, and communicable diseases between the new world and the old world It had carried many effects that affected religion and agriculture.
Most of the popular foods in the US can from the Columbian exchange. Examples of these crops are sugar cane, potatoes, and maize. The passage from the Old Word to the New World in the Columbian Exchange was made by animals as well as humans. Both the non-domesticated and the domesticated animals made an impact on the New World. For example, some of these impacts were the transformation of the grasslands and revolutionizing of labor. Overgrazing by enormous herds of sheep was the reasons for the transformation of the grasslands and the availability of horse, donkey, and the ox was responsible for the new power force for the land. Animals were also vectors for diseases that swept through these communities. Many humans died, the ones who survived had supercharged immune systems that were made stronger and stronger as communities intermingled and new waves of disease passed through.
…show more content…
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
The Columbian exchange had a trade between the old world (Europe) and the new world (America), the trade was about foodstuffs, livestock, diseases and precious. Europe gave to the new world foodstuff such as corn, potatoes, beans, cocoa beans. Europe also gave to the new world precious metal (gold and silver). Europe had received from America foodstuff (wheat, sugar, rice, coffee beans)
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.
Many years ago a continental drift caused a split between North and South Africa from Eurasia and Africa. The Columbian Exchange was named by Alfred W. Crosby in 1972. It refers to a period of time in which cultural and biological exchange between the New and Old Worlds occurred. By far the most devastating impact of the Columbian Exchange followed the introduction of new diseases into the Americas. Many inhabitants brought diseases such as smallpox and measles.
These livestock brought a change in the diet of the people in the New World. Another impact that occurred in the Columbian Exchange was the upbringing of diseases. Newson (2007) said, “The transfer of diseases between the Old World and the Americas had a disproportionate impact on Native Americans.” Many diseases that were involved between the Columbian Exchange were respiratory diseases and
The word “exchange” implies that cargo and ideas were brought to both the Old and New Worlds, and a clear example of what was brought back to the Old World is the crops. Crops and animals had evolved and adapted different on these two sides of the Atlantic, so the Exchange brought entirely new species to completely new parts of the world. There was no crop in one hemisphere that was used as a primary source of nutrition in the other before 1492, because there was no way to get it from one place to the other, due to the fact that the route across the Atlantic had yet to be discovered. The Columbian Exchange changed this by offering a passage between the two halves of the world. (Crosby).
The Columbian Exchange The Columbian Exchange changed the course of the world by paving the way countries and societies trade with each other. Through the exchange, continents introduced products that were endemic to their own ground with one another. Most of these products were vegetation, including corn, potatoes, beans, rice, wheat, and bananas. Horses, pigs, and cows were some of the animals involved in the interchange. Culture was another unique attribution made to the Exchange.
Diseases such as smallpox, measles, and syphilis were being spread out across the globe, due to the new interaction of people from different areas of origin. With the Columbian Exchange in full force, the new worlds were coming in contact which changed the lives of the everyday people. The diseases were caused by interaction with bodies of people who were not immune to the certain bacteria. The Americas were hardly hit, for no one knew of it, while they already were all in contact with each other already (Asia, Europe, Africa). None of the Native Americans were expecting such a hit of diseases.
Common Old World diseases included: smallpox, Measles, Malaria, Yellow fever, Influenza, Chickenpox. This is the most important impact because the introduction of these diseases is what killed off huge percentages of the Native American population. These dramatic population changes weakened native peoples’ capacity for resistance and facilitated the transfer of plants, animals, and related technology. The New World disease “Syphilis” reached epidemic proportions throughout Europe, Africa, Russia and other nations. The transmission of diseases during the Columbian Exchange had a profound effect on the world then and continues to affect our world today.
Economic Effects of the Columbian Exchange Inflation of cash-crops, slavery and silver resulting from the Columbian Exchange caused a drastic effect on the global economy. Cash-crops forged new trade routes across continents, slavery supported New World exports, and silver caused power shifts in the world 's distribution of wealth. As Spanish expeditions to the New World increased in size and purpose, the economic effects on the rest of the world spread with equal vigor. The triangular trade circulated commodities between Europe, Africa, and the Americas. From Europe some commodities were distributed throughout Asia.
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.”
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 between the new world and the old world significantly change people’s lives. After 1492, Europeans brought in horses to America which changes the nomadic Native American groups’ living from riding on buffalos to horses. This interchange also change the diet of the rest of the world with foods such as corns (maize), potatoes which are major diet for European nowadays. Besides all the animals from old world to the new world, Spanish also brought in the diseases that Native Americans were not immune of, such as smallpox which led to a large amount of Native Americans’ deaths.
The Exchange also brought new diseases to both hemispheres, though the effects were greatest in the Americas. Smallpox from the Old World wiped out millions of the Native American population to mere fractions of their original
The Columbian Exchange impacted almost every civilization in the world bringing fatal diseases that depopulated many cultures. However a wide variety of new crops
This affected the wealth of the economies specifically by the exchange of the ideas of growing crops and the swapping of animals. The colonies in the New World became efficient producers of some Old World transplants like: sugar, coffee, and wheat. They also struck an interest in animals such as: horses, pigs, cattle, and chickens. While the Old World learned how to grow potatoes, maize, and tobacco. The exchange of the animals inspired new methods of farming, and both the Old and New World seemed to be able to support their colonies with their knowledge of new crops.