Negative Effects Of The Columbian Exchange

The Columbian Exchange that occurred in the Western Hemisphere subjected America to extensive changes that would fundamentally change the people that lived there, the people that would come to live there, and the land itself. In fact, the America that we know today has been shaped by the events that took place hundreds of years ago during the Columbian Exchange. As European people brought their culture and values to the Americas, it started to combine and mix with the cultures and values already established there, changing both Europeans and Indians in admittedly small, but significant ways. While this can be considered a positive point of the Columbian Exchange, in its entirety, the Columbian Exchange could be considered a disaster, especially for the natives that lived in America before the Europeans came to claim it. Not only did Indians suffer at the hands of European diseases that we completely foreign to them, killing off millions and changing the Indian demographic forever, but the world that they grew to be so familiar with changed around them.

Beginning after columbus discovery in 1492, the exchange lasted throughout the years of expansion and discovery. Exchanging plants, animals, diseases and more transformed European and Native American ways of life. The Columbian Exchange had both positive and negative aspects. For the Natives, who thrived in the Americas before the Europeans arrived, the effect was negative. Entire populations were wiped out by warfare and European diseases like smallpox which took many lives away. While the Columbian Exchange hindered the development of society in the Americas, it also aided the development in Europe.

By integrating so many Old World ideas, it became harder and harder to identify their true culture. Even today, one could go to an Indian reservation and see only a few people who carry as much original native traditions as possible, but none of them can because some of the new ideas were so hidden, like horses, that it's hard for even a person who is majority Native American to dissect his or her culture to its purest form. Other countries still have bright culture that they hold on to and can be recognized by. The Old World was affected negatively by the New World, but not in such a harsh way. They came back with less than half the diseases that they brought. Many people were killed by the sicknesses like yellow fever, but not in any kind of comparison to the Native Americans, and the diseases they brought were nothing to the Black Plague that so many had heard about so it didn't affect them as much as natives. Tobacco, although it may seem small, was an unnoticed problem for Europeans. It soon became a necessity. Both chewing and smoking affected their heath and is even a problem today. The negative effects on the Old World are significantly less severe than on the New World. The Old World had a huge advantage over the Native Americans because they could see a native's actual life and almost everything about them while the New World didn't originally have that benefit. Because of this, the Europeans got many agriculture ideas and foods from

Although the Columbian Exchange brought many good things to America such as food and transportation, The Columbian Exchange was an Overall Negative event because it killed millions of people because of slavery,war,disease, and overwork.

The trade of biological and cultural aspects defines The Columbian Exchange, also called the Great Biological Exchange, for the first time Europeans decided to connect with the Western Hemisphere. This was important because the Europeans actually gained more by taking advantage of the Indians; animals, plants, and diseases, these transactions marked a whole new beginning in the history of America. Two isolated parties explored their differences, and by that, they enriched their biological and cultural lives.

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.

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 perhaps one of the first environmentally detrimental event in American history. This exchange refers to the trade of food, goods, and disease between the Old World, referring to the eastern hemisphere, and the New World, referring to the Americas. The New World had many things to contribute such as potatoes, maize, tomatoes, and chili peppers, which shaped the culinary of both Europe and Asia (Nun 163). Additionally, Europe introduced domesticated animals such as horses, cattle, cats, and dogs to the Americas.

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

Through the Columbian Exchange, the Indians brought potatoes to the Old World, which proved as a useful crop because you didn't have to take them out of the ground until you were ready to eat them. The Europeans brought over horses, pigs, sheep, and cattle to the New World. These animals flourished in the New World because they all were able to produce without having to worry about predators. The Europeans also brought sugar cane and bananas to the New World. These crops and livestock helped to make the New World a more diverse living space for the Europeans and the

European crave for spices was immense. It would drive merchants to seek out trade routes. The Colombian Exchange which commenced after Colombus landing in America, was the exchange of goods, resources, and ideas between the New World and the Old World. From Europe, Asia, and Africa many different species of animals were brought into the lives of Native Americans in the New World. Cattle, pigs, and horses being some of the most influential. Sugar and Coffee would also tremendously impact the lives of Native Americans as the remaining amount that survived small pox disease would be to work in the fields cultivating these popular crops. A few crucial plants that came from the New World were the cacao bean, as Europeans would begin to develop a liking for chocolate and other consumer goods later on, the highly addictive Tobacco would be dispersed though out the nation as well. This exchange system would prove to be a huge turning point as Spain, Portugal and later England, France, and the Dutch would come out to take their piece of this new land. Compared to 1517 these discoveries would change the lives of just about every European for the better, as it was the nobles who funded the expeditions for the search of new goods by intellectual men, rather than the blind following that happened with the Protestant leaders that would

European exploration had both positive and negative effects. The Old World and the New World both obtained new resources from each other like domestic animals and crops. Negatively, Native Americans became enslaved and disease killed most of them. The Old World and the New World were both greatly affected by this in positive and negative ways. The positive effect of European exploration was that each world got new resources, but the negative effect was that Native Americans became enslaved and most died from diseases.

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

Europeans looking to gain economic footholds and a sense of adventure took the ocean and carved a path straight to the Promised Land. The Europeans gifted the new world with diseases such as small pox which decimated the Native American population in North

The Colombian exchange had so many positive effects on the world, mainly the growth of the agriculture and livestock trades. The approach of different crops to the old world from the America included starchy vegetables like potatoes, maize, and more with the potatoes having a bigger impact. The Colombian exchange not only included a trade of food crops, but also a trade of livestock used for the purposes of food, clothing and energy. The use of livestock in the Americas as a food source became important in the savannas regions, because the climate was not fit for major crop cultivation. One more example of the benefits of livestock, was that cattle were killed not only to help life, but for their hides and tallow as well.