Complications Of The Sweet Potato

Tobacco and sugar cane were important cash crops in the New World. These cash crops cultivated the Americas. These two plants created a greed for land. Tobacco and sugar both fueled the introduction of slavery. Tobacco and sugar may have a quantity of comparisons, but they still have qualities that contrast.

They became as important as wheat and rice. After they were settled down, people could not imagine their lives without those accustomed crops. Because of no necessity in cultivated soil, potato and corn grew well almost everywhere. Those crops saved lives of huge numbers of European poor people. Pigs and cattle were feed, which led to the increase of meat on the markets. The population of Europe and Asia grew tremendously since potato and maize were first introduced to the people. “Between 1650 and 1750, the population of Europe, including Asiatic Russia, increased from 103 million to 144; the population of Asia, excluding Russia, increased from 327 million to 475 million” (Stearns et al.

The long-term effects of the Columbian exchange included the swap of food, crops, and animals between the New World and Old World, and the start of the transoceanic trade. In order to produce a profit, Portuguese explorers were the first to established sugar cane plantations in Brazil. They then sold this crop to the Old World where it was a popular commodity because it provided Europeans with a sweetener for foods. In addition, European produce was brought to the New World, including “…wheat, vines, horses, cattle, pigs, sheep, goats, and chickens… Where they sharply increased supplies of food and animal energy.” This fusion of crops between the Old and New World became fundamental in enhancing the diets and food of both populations.

What many people only know about Christopher Columbus’s expedition is that he found the Americas. While this is true, he did find a completely new frontier that was unknown to the Old World, his findings re-shaped global consumption patterns from the seventeenth century. He found a New World filled with resources that the old world hasn’t seen before. When he found the new world he brought with him European plants and animal species that were foreign to the citizens of the New World. The Columbian Exchange introduced many foods that are still essential to consumption in today’s world along with the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries. The potato is a prime example of how the Columbian Exchange changed global consumption patterns because it was nutritious and had an abundant amount of calories in it and caused a mass population increase in areas where the potato was available. The use of slaves also increased exponentially when sugar cane was introduced. This was a very cheap, productive way to produce a large amount of sugar and it was used by many Old World countries. The findings of these new world products created a rise in global consumption and production because products were introduced to the both the New World and the Old World and there instantly became a large spike in the availability of products. Along with this, the old world decided to go out and get themselves involved in the New World because they saw an opportunity

This sugar was sent to Europe, and was a very prominent trade item from the Americas to Europe. Several crops, including potatoes, corn, maize, and cassava changed the Old World drastically, increasing the population to sizes it had never previously been. These crops originated in the new world, but caught on very quickly in the Old World for their quick growth and high calorie per acre value. Another large crop export of the New World was tobacco.

Along with the introduction of livestock, rice and sugar were also brought to the New World from the Old world. Rice and sugar created a better food supply similar to the livestock. The sugar and rice added a variety to the food already in the New world. The introduction of rice in the New World enabled many farmers to grow it in the New World and transport it back to the Old World, creating a great profit.

In the 1620s the potato was introduced to the colony of Virginia courtesy of the British governor of the Bahamas. The potato didn’t truly spread until it received a seal of approval from Thomas Jefferson after serving them to guests at the White House (Chapman, n.d.). The potato continued it’s spread across the world and eventually became a staple part of meals (and snacks) the world over.

He enormously increased the number of kinds of foods and quantities of food by both plant and animal sources. New food crops have enabled people to live in places where they previously had only slim means of feeding themselves. Each new cargo brought new changes to the European diet, helping to improve eating and strengthening national identities with cultural foods. Some of the exotic new crops had humble beginnings; before the tomato made its way into European diets, it was a weed in the Aztec maize fields. The potatoes which hung on to Spanish ships wasn't welcomed at first either; Europeans found it unappetizing. But packing more calories per acre than any European grain, the potato eventually became the dominant food of northern Europe's working class.

The food we eat and the quantity of it is what industries base their investments on; they use this to their advantage and produce more quantity than quality for us to consume, without taking into consideration the effect this might have on us or on the world as a whole. In the article “When a Crop Becomes King” written by Michael Pollan we see what the excessive use of a crop can do to our health and the environment. The vast production of products made with corn has made it the crop which is grown more than any other in the United States, but the process of adapting to the high consumption of corn came at a high cost. While corn is the easiest and cheapest substitute for sugar and animal food it is also linked to the cause of chronic diseases and serious, long-lasting damage to our ecosystems. The production of certain things is something we might not have control of but what we should have control of is our health and what better way than denying anything that we know might give us a hard time the power to do

Chocolate wasn’t bad either.” (Document 6). Although the potato and corn were not cash crops, they quickly became apart of every European’s diet. Potatoes were affordable and could be used in many different ways. Although, the New World received livestock such as cattle, pigs and horses, they also recieved diseases.

In 1492, after Christopher Columbus sailed across the Atlantic Ocean and landed in the Americas for the first time, there was a huge exchange of plants, animals, diseases, and people that interconnected the world as it is today. This exchange of goods is now known as the Columbian Exchange. The Columbian Exchange has had a massive impact on our world and is still going on today. Although disease had a huge impact on the world during the Columbian Exchange, the most important effect of the Columbian Exchange was the exchange of crops. The production of sugarcane contributed to the need for slaves, one the tragic events in United States history. Also, tobacco saved Jamestown colony in the 1700’s from failing by providing wealth for the colony.

When Europeans went to the new world they learned how to grow subsistent crops like the potatoes. Potatoes saved many lives in parts of Ireland, Scotland, and especially Russia, because of their harsh environment potatoes are one of the few crops that can grow. And as a result hundreds of thousands of people didn’t starve, which helped lead to European expansion.

The new world had acres of land to cultivate crops, raise cattle and farm. In many cases, the Old World crops were grown much more industriously in the New World soils and climates than in Europe (Nunn). For example, by 1680 the sugarcane production was predominantly produced by the new world . With the large increase of supply there was also a large increase in demand. Sugar became available to even the lower class. Overall, caloric intake increased throughout the world. New world foods were also brought to Europe such as the potatoes. Potatoes soon became a staple in European diet that when there was a shortage in Ireland hundreds of people died from starvation. Demand for new world foods and more supply of common food from the Americas, increased the health and economy of

Before 1500, potatoes were not become outside of South America. By the 1840s, Ireland was so subject to the potato that the proximate reason for the Incomparable Starvation was a potato malady. Potatoes in the long run turned into an imperative staple of the eating regimen in quite a bit of Europe. Numerous European rulers, including Frederick the Incomparable of Prussia and Catherine the Incomparable of Russia, supported the development of the potato. Maize and cassava, acquainted with the Portuguese from South America in the sixteenth century, have supplanted sorghum and millet as Africa's most essential sustenance crops. sixteenth century Spanish colonizers acquainted new staple yields with Asia from the Americas, including maize and sweet potatoes, and along these lines added to populace development in Asia. Tomatoes, which came to Europe from the New World by means of Spain, were at first prized in Italy basically for their decorative esteem . From the nineteenth century tomato sauces wound up run of the mill of Neapolitan food and, eventually, Italian cooking when all is said in done. Espresso from Africa and the Center East and sugarcane from the Spanish West Independents turned into the fundamental fare product harvests of broad Latin American manors. Acquainted with India by the Portuguese, bean stew and potatoes from South America have turned into a basic piece of Indian

Similar to the reasons for world hunger, there are misleading solutions. The increase in local production of the exported goods is not a solution because the profits continue to flow into the pockets of the corporations. The green revolution is not a solution either. The problem being the farmers cannot afford the seeds, fertilizers and pesticides needed to grow the