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. Sugarcane especially grew abundantly in the warm, wet climate of the Caribbean. Europeans cleared vast amounts of forests to make way for their plantations and crops. They also brought unintentional plants – weeds that were intermixed in the grain seed (such as dandelion) (Angel, 2012). …show more content…
They also brought bees for honey but serendipitously the bees were instrumental in pollinated not only the fruit tress but all other plants. (Angel, 2012). These trees grew abundantly in the fertile soil as well. The landscape of America changed dramatically as a result of the clearing of the forest and the creation of vast fields of crops, groves of trees and plantations of sugarcane and later tobacco and cotton. It was also changed due to the domesticated animals the Europeans brought (cattle, cows, and horses) as they roam over vast areas, trampling the land and feeding off the grasses. The Columbian Exchange also had an impact on Europe. Several new foods were introduced to Europe that profoundly changed the diet of several countries; some of the most significant foods being the potato and the tomato. The potato was native to South America, specifically in Peru and Bolivia. It was a major source of food
The Columbian Exchange shaped the Atlantic World. The Columbian Exchange was the start of connection and communication between the two hemispheres of the world through trade from both sides of people, crops, cultures, ideas, diseases, and cattle. The Columbian Exchange started when Christopher Columbus and his crew made land in the Americas. This exchange specifically benefitted Europe the most. Europe benefitted the most because of the new crops that were introduced to them such as maize (corn), potatoes, and tobacco to name a few.
Additionally, vanilla, which was from the new world, got transported to Europe in the Columbian Exchange.
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.
Take a look at the globalization of crops in both the Americas and Europe. One of the most essential food staples, maize/corn, was brought over to Europe and Asia. Slide 54 states, “It grew in places unsuitable for tubers and grains and sometimes gave two or even three harvests a year.” This demonstrates how the versatility of corn aided Europe and even Asia. However, this was not the only crop to have a significant impact from the New World.
Plants such as beans, squash, chili peppers, sunflowers, peanuts, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, avocado, and pineapple were exchanged, but the most important were sugarcane, maize, and potatoes. Sugarcane was introduced on Columbus second voyage to the America’s and was one of the largest cash crops in history. It still is one of the largest today too. Maize was a New World crop that was essential to the European diet and supported economies and sustained the population growth.
One of the most significant aspects of the Columbian exchange was the exchange of plants and animals between the old and new worlds. The new world gave europe crops such as maize, potatoes, tomatoes, which soon became staples in european diets. In return, Europe introduced the new world to crops such as wheat,rice, and sugarcane. The introduction of these new crops had a profound impact on the economies and diets of both continents.
Crops like sugar cane and coffee fueled the demand for more labor; this started the transatlantic slave trade. Last but not least the diseases that that killed off many Indians and Europeans. The soil was very important to the cops in the Old Word. The New World has well enriched soil that was suitable for
The Columbian exchange was a sort of bridge between two very different cultures and, as Alfred W. Crosby said, it was very hard to find any crops that the two civilizations (the Old World and the New World, so to speak) shared. Horses, wheat, pigs, sugar cane, rice, and grape vines -- along with many other things -- could only be found in the Old World. Likewise, corn, sweet potatoes, alpaca, peanuts, and tobacco were all from the New World. Some of these things, wheat, rice, and corn in particular, are staples nowadays and we would be in trouble if something happened to one of those things. As Crosby said, “[Wheat] is one of Europe’s greatest gifts to the Americas”.
Wheat, oats, and barely are all new foods brought to the Americas which also had weeds in between the seeds which displaced native flora and fauna.
Some states thrived under the trade, while others economically deteriorated so drastically that they continue to suffer today. Despite the consequences, the trade connected the world closer than ever before. A main reason why Europeans colonized the New World with such swiftness and determination lay in the drinks of nobles and the soil of peasants. Sugar was in high demand during the 1500s and 1600s, and the fertile coasts of the Carribean and Brazil made for a perfect environment. Sugar cane was just the tip of the iceberg: Europeans soon discovered crops native to the Americas that heavily impacted world economy, a prime example being the potato.
Not only America and England were affected by the Columbian Exchange ; without the Columbian Exchange the foods that currently present in many locations across the world wouldn’t be there. In document 2 it states, “Today some 200 million Africans rely on it as their main source of nutrition. Cacao and rubber, two other South American crops, became important export items in West Africa the 20th century.” Also in document 2 it states, “Indeed, almost everywhere in the world, one or another American food crops caught on, complementing existing crops, or more rarely, replacing them.” These two quotes demonstrate that the Columbian Exchange brought about a massive change in the foods people
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 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 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.