Flora and Fauna in the Columbian Exchange The voyage undertaken by Christopher Columbus to attempt to find a more direct route to India would fail in it 's goal. Columbus would not reach India, instead he would land on the banks of a world entirely unknown to Europeans of the time period. His “discovery” of this New World would have far reaching consequences for both the world he found, and the world from which he departed. This new landmass would prove to be incredibly important in world affairs over the following centuries, with the United States eventually becoming the world superpower we know today. Diseases would be exchanged, decimating entire populations. Culture would be exchanged, bringing entirely new ideas about social order to the forefront. Ultimately however, the exchange of food, and by extension animals, would prove to be the longest-lasting and most important aspect of the Columbian exchange. This exchange of flora and fauna would shape both the New World and the Old, and would have staggering implications for the future of Europe. The exchange of crops would prove to be essential for the expansion of European populations. Staple crops in particular would migrate to Europe with returning ships, and crops such as potatoes and corn would become massively important in the diets of European peoples. The staple crops brought to Europe also had the advantage of requiring growing conditions very different from traditional European crops. This had the
The Columbian exchange brought the old world and the new world together in a way the world had not yet seen. Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492 from Europe to what he thought was India, but he “discovered” Central America instead. Though Central America wasn’t the spice filed India that he had hoped for, Central America was filled with resources that spiked European interest such as crops, plants, animals, gold and most importantly potential converts for the Christian faith.
The discovery of the New world or America in the year 1492, and The Columbian Exchange it played a significant role on bring resources to various parts of the world. It brought the exchange of various resources like plants, animals, and diseases across the world. The year was 1492 is when Christopher set sail and put in motion The Columbian Exchange or also known as The Great Exchange. The Columbian Exchange affected the geographic location with the trading routes with Afro-Eurasia to the Americas. Also, The Exchange affected the economic with various countries with the trading. Finally, it affected the social change that made us the county we are to this day. With this exchange set forth the trading of various
The Columbian Exchange, derived from the voyages of Columbus to the Americas, was a chapter in history that connected the Old World to the New World by exchanging crops, culture, and technology. The Columbian Exchange in the Western Hemisphere resulted in extensive demographic, social, economic, and environmental changes. The arrival of Europeans to Native American land produced an intense mixture of culture and population fluctuation. Not only did this exchange affect the social aspect between the two nations, it changed the way people engaged in trade and proprietary interests, which would lead to a massive destruction and transformation of the environment.
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
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.
When you are sitting in a fancy restaurant in Texas, tasting a delicious steak with a nice cup of coffee, do you know that before 1492, American people don’t even know what is beef and coffee. Nowadays, people’s diet is abundant. People in every part of the world can taste the food originated in other side of the world. This is due to one of the most significant ecological events in human history called the Columbian Exchange. According to Nunn Nathan and Qian Nancy, “the Columbian Exchange refers to the exchange of diseases, ideas, food crops, and populations between the New World and the Old World following the voyage to the Americas by Christopher Columbus in 1492” (Nathan and Nancy, 2010). It was so spectacular that has left both positive and negative impacts in each side of the world.
Until the sixteenth century, the experts in that period of time believed that it was impossible to sail west across from the Atlantic to Asia. By his adventure, Christopher Columbus, an Italian navigator, proved that they were wrong. However, based on the theory that the earth was a sphere, he thought that he could reach the East Indies by sailing west. He calculated the distance from Portugal to Asia was shorter than to Congo. In fact, the real distance from Portugal to Japan was much further, over ten thousand miles. With his erroneous estimate, he planned a scheme to prove he was right. After several unsuccessful lobbying in Portugal, Spain, even in England and France, eventually, in 1492, he won financing for his journey from Spanish monarchs,
In 1492 the explorer Columbus set out on his first voyage for Spain in search of a direct water route across the Atlantic Ocean from Europe to Asia. Instead though, he found the Americas. Once in the New World Columbus ran into a native people and decided to name them Indians. This accidental finding of the Americas ignited the first contact ever between the Western and Eastern hemisphere. The result of this was The Columbian Exchange in which there was a large trade of animals, plants, technology, culture, slaves, diseases, and even new religions. This exchange effected the way Europeans, Americans, Asians, and Africans lived their daily lives. The Columbian exchange was by far one of the most paramount events in the history of world technology, agriculture, culture, and ecology. In this research paper the following will be answered:
The passage that African slaves were carried through during the slave trade. The passage carried slaves from Africa to North America and the West Indies. The passage moved across the Atlantic Ocean on boats with extremely bad conditions.
In the 1400’s - 1700’s the Columbian Exchange had begun following the voyage of Christopher Columbus. On his famous voyage, Columbus found the Americas a new land that no one discovered. This voyage sparked the start of the Columbian Exchange a huge transfer of animals, plants, technology and human populations. The Columbian Exchange positively affected the world because it brought many new crops and foods to the Americas and Europe. Along with new foods, it also brought new animals and religion to the Americas. Although the Columbian Exchange brought many positive items, it also brought diseases like small pox and measles and contributed to slavery.
In 1492, when the first of many Europeans arrived to the Americas, a new era had begun. The great leaders and trades between the old and new worlds have changed humanity for the better and worse. To understand how we should view the Columbian Exchange, it must be understood by its impact on the history of trade, change in civilization, and diseases.
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 European explorers began the exchange of plant and animal species. In William and Jackson’s writing, they explained how the Europeans helped to increase the food production in America. (Doc #3) This document states, “… cultivation of corn, manioc, and the potato … a process that ultimately brought benefits…” in the Americas. This process was known as the Columbian Exchange. It had an effect on the Eastern and Western Hemisphere. Furthermore, the Columbian Exchange had both good and bad effects on the world. Although it helped increase exchange, it caused many diseases to spread and kill many people.
became a staple crop in areas in Europe, such as Ireland, where because of their dependance on the
he Columbian Exchange had a very significant impact on the Americas and Europe between 1492 and 1750. This exchange gave civilizations the opportunity to not only migrate but develop and explore more of the world through trade, interactions, and discoveries. If it hadn’t been for the Columbian Exchange a lot of resources would not have been as widespread and animals wouldn’t exist as much in places as they are now.