Columbian Exchange: History of the Americas, Eurasia and Africa

Illnesses such as smallpox killed the majority of Native American populations significantly weakening the Naive Americans allowing for Europeans to more easily conquer them. The transfer of crops from the Americas to Europe allowed for a more population growth and shaped their cuisine to this day. Potatoes and native to the Americas yet they are and were a staple of European diets, most notably the Irish. European discovery of resources in the Americas led to millions of African slaves being shipped to the Americas to work in mines or plantations. This widespread slave trade has influences race relations to this day.

One of the most interesting questions to ponder: is can a link be drawn directly to show the causation of why and when countries adopted customs or habits that are now fundamental in the present day. With secondary sources, these correlations can be shown and provide statistics as proof, based upon analysis of important primary sources. The journal article The Columbian Exchange: A History of Disease, Food and Ideas is a secondary source detailing what occurred in the years after the voyage of Columbus and how both the New World and the Old World were affected during this period of colonization. An interesting perspective was given in this paper, unlike many others that describe the same topic, in which the authors chose to focus on how the Old World was affected more so than what transpired in the areas being colonized. There was an extravagant biological exchange of both crops and disease, which provided serious lifestyle changes for both Europeans and the native people of the Americas, and there were also consequences elsewhere in the world associated with the Columbus exchange in the years after its commencement. Secondary sources are also very important to historians and this is a source that is very well written, backed up by diagrams and detailed evidence found in primary sources.

The beginning of the exchange happens, the plants and foods. The diets of the two cultures happened to be different, and so they altered them. The Western Hemisphere had many new different options for the Europeans to choose from. There were three new foods that the Europeans did not recognize, but took advantage; corn, which was called maize, it basically grew everywhere, sweet and white potatoes, and many different kinds of beans that the Europeans loved. (Shi and Tindall 37). Some other examples of the food the Indians shared with the Europeans are peanuts, peppers, tomatoes, pumpkins, pineapples, avocados, cacao, chewing gum, and the list goes on. The Europeans, on the other hand, presented to the indigenous people, the greatest foods that still go on to this day, which are, rice, wheat, barley, wine grapes, melons, coffee, olives, bananas, daisies, and many more. The transactions of these foods were so important to both cultures because when they combined them, they were amazingly rich in taste. Europeans did not have pepper, but when adding it to the food it became something so delicious it could not be real. Also, they did not know that in the future young people would conquer the New World with the positive effect that corn left them (Shi and Tindall 37). Both of these groups basically repaired their culture for good.

When the Europeans explored the Americas, they were introduced to new plants, foods, and animals, as well as riches and land. Foods such as corn, white and sweet potatoes, beans, tomatoes, cacao, fruits,

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.

During the exchange of goods and people moving to the new world brought sickness and diseases. The most common diseases the Old World brought were smallpox, measles, malaria, yellow fever, influenza, & chicken pox. The most destructive disease out of all the ones brought to America were the smallpox. Small pox is a contagious, disfiguring and a deadly disease. The small pox started with the animals, and once the animals started being brought over and the disease was then transferred on to the

It is estimated that 60% to 90% of Native American tribes had died from new diseases brought from the Columbian Exchange from the Europeans. Numerous diseases such as the infamous smallpox were introduced to the Native Americans and were degrading to the population as the Europeans grew a type of immunity from the diseases unlike the Native Americans. Conflict between the Spanish and the Native Americans brought war which encourages diseases to spread through hand to hand combat. Cultures and tribes were on the brink of extinction, as European expansionism and imperialism succeeded in claiming land that was formerly the Native Americans. The mass genocide and epidemic of various diseases towards the Native Americans reach to new heights due to the Columbian Exchange as Europeans militants strived for land and gold at the cost of the Native American’s

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

That had to be the worst thing ever to have to deal with. Some of the diseases were: small pox, measles, chicken pox, malaria, influenza and cholera, along with others. The ending result and the ultimate result of the whole Columbian Exchange was negative because of the spread of the diseases to the Indians and European, it created a lot of things and introduced new pests to the New World. The disease did not only spread to the Europeans to the natives, but the natives passed syphilis to the Europeans. Almost 90% of the Indians died due to the disease between 1492 and 1650. The disease did the stop the Europeans from trying their best to get make it to the New World. They could not avoid getting sick but it did not and could not stop them from invading Europeans. Clearly, imported disease had the most ruinous influence on the lives of Indians. Cooperative labor was required for hunting and gathering, and native groups faced extinction if disease caused a shortage of labor. Besides goods, disease and other things, the Columbian exchange was also apart of slavery. When slavery came most of the Native Americans has been killed off by the diseases that they has caught. The Europeans had now brought slaves in to work for them on the land. When you think of slaves you think of the south, but only 5% of the slaves brought to the New World started importing slaves in the 1620’s and it didn’t end until the Civil War. It is still true that slavery has existed long

In the 1500s, the Conquistadors came to the new world from Europe. After the Conquistadors came and conquered the new world many Native Americans fell ill with the diseases brought from Europe. After the Europeans entered the new world an estimated 15 to 20 million Native Americans died (doc 5). A majority of these deaths were due to the introduction of smallpox from Europe to the new world (doc 5). This is because the majority of the Native American population did not have the immunity to these diseases as the

- The Columbian Exchange was a worldwide transfer of plants, animals, and diseases. Before Columbian Exchanged certain foods were not in European meals such as, corn, potatoes, and different kinds of beans – (kidney, lima), peanuts, and peppers. The same for the Native Americans, certain foods were not a part of the culture such as, rice, wheat, barley, oats, melons, Kentucky bluegrass, and dandelions. The diseases the European’s as well as the slaves carried over, they effected the Native Americans greatly and caused millions to die. These diseases consisted of smallpox’s,

The greatest adversary to the natives in the Americas was not the swords or guns of the invaders. It was the devastation brought by deadly diseases infecting an unsuspecting population that had no immunity to such diseases.

and Old world, and the deadly interactions of the natives and Europeans. Some examples of new foods

The diseases that the European explorers brought over, and the effect they had on the Native Americans, were by far the worst parts of the Columbian Exchange. While some people may believe that war and mistreatment of the Natives were what caused 80-95% of them to perish, the actual cause was diseases like measles and small pox. According to Dinesh D’Souza, before the Europeans arrived, there was between 15 and 20 million Indians, but 150 years later, there was only a small amount left. In “The Crimes of Christopher Columbus”, D’Souza adds that since the Indians hadn’t seen those types of diseases before, they had not yet developed any resistance or immunity to them. The purpose of that statement is to explain why so many Indians were affected

An enormous number of Native Americans passed on from European diseases, particularly smallpox, to which they had no