The Columbian Exchange The new world and old world were never meant to meet in this way. When the two worlds came together it wasn’t good there was death and people, plants, and disease all played a large role in the death that came when the two worlds collided. After the Europeans came to the new world many people died from war. Once the Europeans saw the potential for the plants in the new world many lives were lost. Finally when the Europeans arrived in the new world they brought with them disease. People consist of one bad part of the Columbian exchange and they played a very large roll in the deaths that occurred when the old and new worlds met. One example of this is the number of slaves that died from disease and not being clean on the trip from Africa to the new world. According to Big History more than 1,000,000 slaves died on slave ships. This also counting the slaves murdered for slave insurance money (Big History). Another example would be the deaths of all the natives that responded violently when the Europeans began abusing and stealing gold from them (Big History). Finally a third example would be how much smaller the …show more content…
One example of this would be tobacco; this plant on its own is now used in every cigarette and cigarettes handed out to service men at war and more soldiers died of tobacco than died from the war (Crash Course). Another example would be that the sugar cane the Europeans discovered in the new world inspired them to make plantations were they had free labor in slaves and many of the slaves died at young ages due to bad living conditions (Big History). Finally he potato helped the population double after the potato was spread to the old world, but then there was the potato famine in Ireland, which lead to the death to thousands of people (Big History). Plants did play a large role in the deaths of people and continue to; luckily we have put the treacherous diseases behind
The Columbian Exchange has been called the “greatest human intervention in nature since the invention of agriculture” (Grennes 2007). The exchange of diseases, plants, and animals lead to a global cultural and economic shift throughout the Old and New Worlds following Christopher Columbus' 'discovery' of the Americas in 1492. The Eastern Hemisphere saw an influx of raw materials, new staple crops, and the income from and production of growing crops that were too resource intensive for Europe and Asia. The Western Hemisphere saw large scale population shifts, massive devastation accompanying colonization, and a significant change in the ecosystem with the introduction of new, sometimes invasive, plants and animals. This 'exchange' had one
Following the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus in 1492, a great amount of trade between America and Europe began to take place known as the Columbian Exchange. These widespread exchanges ranged anywhere from livestock and plants all the way to the exchange of human slaves. The Columbian Exchange was vital in introducing new crops to both the eastern and western hemispheres, which also led to an increase in population in both hemispheres. Without the introduction of the Columbian Exchange the population of the world would most definitely be at a much smaller number. Perhaps the most vital part of the Columbian Exchange was the fact that it brought horses to America, horses were crucial in the colonization of the nation.
There is also a huge spread of diseases brought between the new world and old world. The old world brought over cholera, influenza, malaria, measles, and smallpox. The Europeans considered illness as a consequence of sin. The Indians whom were non-Christian were often considered sinners because they constantly getting sick. Those who were ill often were punished. The Native Americans had no natural resistance to the diseases and the population declined over centuries. The Inca Empire decreased by millions in 1600s. This caused for Europeans to look to Africa and began importing African slaves to the Americas. Once the African slaves began coming to the American they brought over malaria
The Columbian Exchange is the period of time after Columbus discovery of the Americas in 1942 where there was an exchange of diseases, trade, crops, and migration between the New World and the Old World. First the Columbian Exchange caused a large majority of deaths by diseases for the Native American. The Europeans exposed the natives to sicknesses they had never been exposed to before and thus they had built no immunity or defense to them. Although several diseases were transferred from the old world to the new world the deadliest includes smallpox, measles, whooping cough, chicken pox, bubonic plague, typhus, and malaria (Nunn). Smallpox was often misdiagnosed and killed thousands of Indians. It is estimated that in 1492 there were between
The Columbian Exchange was an extensive transportation of farm animals, plants, culture, people, and ideas between North America and Afro-Eurasian hemispheres during the 15th and 16th centuries. What derived during that period was a massive change between both hemispheres which brought good and bad things. After Columbus reached the New World in 1492, the Pilgrims fled their home land to seek for “freedom” to worship as Christians; where in Europe it was forbidden to do so, but they were ready to sacrifice everything they had there to travel to a new territory (America) in new hopes that their children will be able to learn about Christianity
(gilderlehrman.org). Although the new world contracted multiple devastating illnesses, they arguably benefited more from the exchange than the europeans.
Exchange on the Americas and Africa The Columbian Exchange between 1492 and 1750 has had a detrimental effect on both the Americas and Africa. The exchanges of plants, animals, and foods between the two regions have shared similarities through the mass transfer of populations and overexploitation of land.
It started with Columbus coming over to the Americas and then the exchange of products from the Americas with Europe and Africa. The Americas gave Europe new food sources and some animals, but Europe and Africa passed on diseases and germs, and also domesticated animals.
The controversial scholarly journal of Robert S Wolff explores the history of the first trade encounters between the Portuguese in Africa and Asia, controversy lying in its separation from the Western narrative. Throughout the article, the author is trying to figure out the motives or other considerations playing a role behind the actions of Portuguese and other Europeans, such as choosing violent ways of making a profit in the lands of Africa and Asia, rather than using the existing trade networks, to emerge as the world ruler. In his view, Europeans had claimed themselves to be the “center of the world” way before they have risen to that title. European countries were looking for profitable trade in wealthy lands full of gold, consequently lack of resources and other valuable goods became a barrier to their success in the already existing channels.This is seen in da Gamma’s first encounter with the local ruler of Calicut, where his gifts were considered substandard to that of the poorest merchant, as seen by the local advisor.
History has shaped every part of the various cultures and regions throughout the world. These influential historical events might have made a large impact, while other events only impacted a few regions. Some historical events can also have a positive influence on one area and a negative influence on another. A historic event that had a large impact and influence, both positive and negative, on several different regions of the world was the Columbian Exchange. In a broad sense, the Columbian Exchange can be described as a period of time where there were numerous exchanges between the new and the old worlds. Many of the items that were exchanged included both cultural and biological elements (Malone et al.). It is often stated that Christopher Columbus is responsible for starting this massive cultural exchange
In regard to the Columbian Exchange, diseases, plants, and animals shaped both the new and old worlds. This was the exchange of many ideas between the two hemispheres taking place in 1942. Within the new world the Columbian Exchange shaped many different aspects by bringing destructive diseases that caused a depopulation in multiple different cultures. Contact made by the Europeans exposed Native Americans to diseases against which they were not resistant to including, smallpox, measles, chicken pox, influenza, malaria, and yellow fever. “The unintentional and microscopic allies of the Spanish was the pathogens of diseases new to the Indians.
The Columbian Exchange The biological and cultural exchange of animals, plants, human population, diseases, food, government, technology, arts and language since the arrival of Christopher Columbus to the Americas is called the Columbian Exchange. It had several detrimental effects in our modern world because it caused mass deaths, loss of biodiversity & cultures and fueled slave trade. Adverse outbreaks of diseases on both the Old and New World were caused by the contact of the two. The European ships arrived in the Americas with pandemic diseases such as measles, yellow fever and smallpox that lead to the largest death tolls of as many as 80% of the Native Americans.
Food and crops, such as maize, potatoes, tomatoes, and sugar cane had a very big impact to the New World in helping to feed more people. These crops and food were a great find, considering people in the new world lived in treacherous places, such as the Mayans, but they found crops that were easy to grow. Tobacco, sugar, coffee and the many other New World crops became popular all over the world and brought more Europeans to Central America. Another positive for Europeans from the Columbian Exchange was the introduction of new medicines from the New World such as quinine for Malaria, “...exploration and colonization of this vast tropical regions of these continents was aided by the New World, discovery of quinine the first effective treatment for Malaria.” (pg 164 of The Columbian Exchange: A History of Disease, Food, and Ideas). Disease (along with slavery and war) was one of the huge negatives of the Columbian Exchange, because European diseases killed millions of Native Americans who did not have immunity to them. However, there are many diseases in the world, such as smallpox, measles, whooping cough, chicken pox, bubonic plague, typhus, and malaria and, although you could argue that if the Europeans had never come to the New World these diseases might not have come either, with its plentiful resources and its creative population the two civilizations would have eventually met, so this seems unlikely.
The Columbian Exchange was a major milestone in the diffusion of the New and Old World. In 1492, Columbus arrived in the Bahamas(2), where he first came in contact with Native Americans. There, both exchanged their cultures such as crops, animals, metals, and germs, hence the name, Colombian Exchange. This has brought about both positive and negative effects. While some negative impacts are exemplified by the near-genocide of Amerindians, the demerits are outweighed by the benefits of this historical exchange, including the international diversity of ethnicity, and increased global population.
One consequence of the exchange was mass death. In the search for new routes for trade, people of Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas came in contact with each other, causing the spread of disease. Columbus's colonization brought a host of new diseases to the populations of the Americas. Europeans exported their diseases such as influenza, tuberculosis and smallpox. In return, European traders and colonizers returned the Europe with syphilis and typhus from the Americas. The slave trade caused the spread of malaria and yellow fever from Africa to the Caribbean and North America, and yellow fever to Europe.