Christopher Columbus 's Discovery Of The America

A tragedy that ravaged the Indians were diseases they weren't exposed to, causing serious problems due to their lack of immunity. Influenza, small pox, and other diseases killed hundreds of thousands of the native populations. Disease weakened the Indian resistance which allowed the conquistadors to easily conquer an area and have it portioned into encomiendas. The Spanish were given title to the land and its people in exchange for promising to teach the natives Christianity. This system was greatly abused, putting the Indians in a state of virtual slavery. Another source of a decrease in population between the New and Old Worlds was the Colombian exchange which interchanged diseases, plants, animals, and human cultures. Disease bearing microbes were transmitted leading to deteriorating populations of the

Christopher Columbus achieved remarkable success in the New World by discovering new lands and presenting an opportunity for new development. Over the course of four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean, Columbus ignited the conquest and colonization of land in the New World. He recorded his experiences in journals and letters for future navigators and sailors to read and learn from. The benefits that arose from his expeditions were known as the Columbian Exchange, which included the transfer of people, resources, and culture, all of which significantly impacted society worldwide. His world changing legacy impacted the development of the territory in the New World and increased trade, resources, and economic stability for Europe.

In the new world, Europeans encountered indigenous plant foods cultivated by Native Americas. These plants were potatoes, beans, corn, tobacco, and cocoa. The potato is especially important because it’s known for one of the main foods for Ireland. The European’s influenced oats and barley etc. Domesticated animals as pigs, chickens, sheep, and ox were also brought to the Americas. Horses were also brought to the new world which was a new tool for hunting and used for military.

After Columbus made his journey to the New World in 1492, the Europeans brought a different culture to the people of the New World and took many new ideas back to the Old one, this was the time period known as the Columbian Exchange. Most of what the Europeans took from the Exchange was good, but some of what they brought was devastating to the people in the New World. Although, this time period was very brutal for the Native Americans, the Columbian Exchange resulted in the transmitting of new technologies, an increase in remedies and cures for diseases, and a growth in resources such as food that helped to improve life.

The New world gave the Old world many riches and foods. This allowed the European Culture to expand into more of an agricultural country, allowing the population to rise. Although the New world did receive an abundance of plaques and illnesses from the Old, it also gave the Old world syphilis. Giving the Europeans their first lethal sexually transmitted illness. Both the Native Americans and the Europeans had suffered from illness and disease. With the ships the Europeans had brought over the ocean they had along with them animals including horses, cows and pigs. This allowed the Natives to travel more on horseback and instead of hunting they could raise

In “The Columbian Exchange: A History of Disease, Food, and Ideas,” the authors point out that there were two channels in the transfer of food crops. One are unknown tropical spcies from the New World, which has affected on the growth of local cuisines. They are rich in calories and improving taste and vitamin intake. Otherwise, the Old World also brought certain crops. America gave a plenty of land that helped response the high food demand, and became the main supplies for Old World markets. In this way, they unknowingly carried many Old World diseases, such as smallpox, meales, and other diseases. They were unfamiliar to the Native America and they never had developed immunity to such disease. By the early 1600’s, the population of Indians decreased nearly 90%. Furthermore, Columbus’ sailors encountered sexually with native women Indians so that they brought the deadly bacteria unwittingly back to Europe. This reason led slavery system traded from Africa for labor requirement for cotton and tobacco plantation

12 October 1492- Columbus arrives in the Americas- Christopher Columbus had the support of King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I. Columbus set sail in April of 1492. It took him nearly six months for him to touch land. Although Columbus was not the first to actually discover the Americas, he has been given that credit despite there being evidence that Vikings actually discovered the Americas around 1000 AD. “Icelandic legends called sagas recounted Eriksson’s exploits in the New World around A.D. 1000. These Norse stories were spread by word of mouth before becoming recorded in the 12th and 13th centuries.” (History.com/Vikings) The significance of Columbus coming to America over the Vikings is that following the voyage of Columbus, is when settlers really began to start traveling to the Americas and “a new phase of civilization began.” (Reference.com)

After the Spanish settled in America, many new foods and species of plants were introduced to the people of Eurasia, none of which they had said before. Although most of the exchange of food was from the New World to the Old World, Eurasia also introduced the America’s to wheat and grapes, two very important foods for mass. Potatoes and corn were a major part of the Columbian Exchange as they provided a lot of nutrition and were very easy to grow. They could grow in soil that was previously useless for agriculture. Other foods that spread across Europe were tomatoes, peppers, chocolate, beans, pineapples, avocados and blueberries. This exchange of food was the main reason that the worlds population doubled from 545,000,000 in 1600 to 1,128,000,000 in 1850 and historians often describe this massive increase in the nutritional value and variety of

It should no longer come as any great surprise that Columbus was not the first to discover the Americas--Carthaginians, Vikings, and even St. Brendan may have set foot on the Western Hemisphere long before Columbus crossed the Atlantic. But none of these incidental contacts made the impact that Columbus did. Columbus and company were bound to bring more than the benefits of Christianity and double entry bookkeeping to America. His voyages started the Columbian Exchange, a hemispherical swap of peoples, plants, animals and diseases that transformed not only the world he had discovered but also the one he had left.

The Columbian Exchange began as people from the Old World and New World began to interact with one another. Natives had many valuable items such as gold and corn, which contributed to one of the many positive effects the New World had on the Old World. Population rapidly increased in Europe and Africa due to new crops, and eventually caused China’s population to triple (America’s History, pg43). The English settlers brought wheat, apples, and grasses for the livestock to graze on. One of the less desirable results of the Columbian Exchange was the exchange of diseases. Along with domesticated animals, which enriched the Native diet, Europeans brought smallpox, measles, influenza, malaria, and yellow fever (The Columbian Exchange, pg1). These diseases devastated Native populations as countless people fell at the hands of new illnesses. Thousands died of mysterious disease, and it got to the point where tribes ran out of people to make fires, fetch water, and bury the dead (The Columbian Exchange, pg1). Native suffering did not stop there. White brutality, alcoholism, and the killing and driving off of game also took a toll on them. While the colonists did suffer from American diseases such as syphilis and Chagas Disease, the deaths from that are insignificant to Native

The diseases that were brought over to the “New World”, includes Syphilis, Polio, Hepatitis, Encephalitis, and many other types of illnesses brought by the European. This had a great effect on the Indian population, the Indians started to contract the disease that the European had brought over and it was easily spreadable because of the air that they breath and also by touching one another could also spread the disease easily. Smallpox was an issue to Indians; it killed thousands of Indian population and was also considered to

The “Columbian Exchange” refers to the exchange of people, crops and animals between the New World and the Old World that drastically altered the lives of Europeans, Asians and Africans. The Old World received many crops that were previously unknown to them, including potatoes, chili peppers, cacao (chocolate), tomatoes and peanuts. Tobacco came from the New World and spread throughout Spain, to Turkey, and from there to Russia, France, England, and the rest of Asia. Corn (or maize), which also came from the New World, became a staple crop in Europe and is the third most planted field crop in the world today. In addition, because of corn, the potato and the sweet potato, Europeans and East Asians were able to vary their diets. Cacao (chocolate)

In 1492, after Columbus’s arrival in the Caribbean, the Columbian Exchange began. The trade of plants, animals, and diseases between the Old and New World brought several new experiences to both the Natives and the Europeans. Both groups felt the repercussions, beneficial and destructive, which will be explained in this essay.

There, many items and ideas were traded, good and bad, such as diseases, plants, livestock, and technology. European countries flourished from the exchange at the new world and even experienced a population boom. Many good were successful and became popular in Europe such as tobacco, corn, and potatoes. These foods changed many diets and cuisines across Europe and Asia. For example, capsicum peppers from the Americas transformed South and Southeastern Asian cuisine.

There were other explorers that stumbled upon this great country before he did. One of the first groups to explore the North America were Asians. They crossed over to the Bering Strait and entered into Alaska many many years ago. For centuries after that, there were many descendants to spread thru and across the American continent. They brought with them many different cultures and they also controlled the lands. Vikings were among the dew that founded America in the early times. Vikings from Northern Europe reached the east coast. They were confronted with diseases and also were resisted by natives that drove them out. It’s believed that Vikings landed