The Columbian Exchange

Sugar was irresistible and that is why it was one of the biggest global trade items. There were pro’s and con’s to the sugar trade. Europeans got wealthy and powerful while slaves were worked to death.

Sugar was one of the first global product, this and many other products were part of the trade system the triangle of trade. During the sugar trade, the Africans were treated unfairly however, the Europeans benefited, the economic system grew and sugar became more popular. When the African slaves were in America the slaves underwent brutal working conditions. Two sources corroborate this claim. According to document Henry Coor, “Even though I have to kill 30-40 negroes more per year, the higher production of sugar more than justifies the loss in life.”

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.

Sugar was relatively unknown to Europe until the fourteenth century. After its introduction to the people of Europe, it gradually spread across the continent until it eventually reached the Atlantic nations. After the “discovery” of the New World, Europe was eager to expand its territories. Sugar was soon brought to the Americas with the explorers, and the global sugar trade was born. The sugar trade was driven by the high demand for sugar in Europe, its appeal to European investors, and competition between European nations.

The sugar trade succeeded due to the increasing demand for the product, along with the advent of European colonization of the Caribbean, and the use of slavery as an efficient workforce. The rise in demand for sugar was partially a result of the addictive properties it had, which caused people to want more of it. The islands on which the Europeans were colonizing were ideal for the growth of cane sugar, the plant that is processed into the finished sugar product. With the use of slaves, the production of sugar was happening at a much quicker and cheaper rate than before, thus creating more sugar to supply the demand. During the sixteenth century, the Europeans colonized the Caribbean islands, which were perfect for running sugar plantations.

The modern sugar industry began with Christopher Columbus, the misguided sailor who set sail from Palos de la Frontera, Spain, westward toward China on August 3, 1492. He got as far as Cuba. As planned, Columbus landed at the Canary Islands a short time after leaving Spain, to load up provisions, however Columbus fell in love with the land's ruler, the beautiful Beatriz de Bobadilla y Ossorio. They had a month-long affair before he finally sailed away. She gave as a gift some sugarcane cuttings, which he planted in what he thought was land near China, but which were really the islands of San Salvador, Cuba and Hispaniola.

Sugar is one of the most important items that was discovered in the new world back in the 1300’s. The reason for this is that in the 1300’s hardly anyone knew what sugar was until Christopher Columbus went to the Bahamas and came back to Spain with sugar in the 1400’s. So what drove the sugar trade?, well there are many factors that drove it some of them were Land meaning the natural resources used to make sugar, Labor, meaning human resources that are needed to make sugar, and Investment Capital which is money used to buy tools and land. Sugar could have become such a desired good due to the fact that people in Europe found out that there is such a thing with the qualities of sugar or maybe it could be because of the low cost of slaves

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

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.

Have you ever wondered where and how sugar came from? In Sugar Changed the World, Marc Aronson and Marina Budhos answer just this by explaining how sugar connected the whole world. They explore the history of sugar, from the Age of Honey all the way to the Age of Freedom. Sugar was treated as a luxury and used in ceremonies in Hindu culture. As time progressed, the trade of sugar expanded, leading to slavery.

Sugar is in almost everything we eat today. The reason for this is because of the Sugar Trade. The Sugar Trade was from 1655 - 1833, and it revolved around Britain, and their trade route. The Sugar Trade was driven by the climates of British colonies, the use of labor and slaves, and the high demand for sugar in Britain.

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 Columbian Exchange didn’t happen yet many of the Native Americans had to do all of the labor by themselves without any use of animals. After the Columbian Exchange, Columbus brought over horses, dogs, cattle, goats, and chicken and it provided the Natives with a new source of labor and also with a new source of food. Many of these animals carried diseases and humans were dying. Those diseases that the animals carried with them came to the New World. Cattle were very profitable because you could eat their meat and also use their hides as a blanket. The cattle hides were then shipped back to Europe to be sold as well as the meat. Cattle have a downfall because they were destroying Native American crops by eating them or by just simply stepping on them. Black rats carried bubonic plague and typhus; the black rats came from the Old World to the New World and that plague spread to the colonist. The plague also killed off some of the smaller animals that belong to the Native Americans. Horses also land a great impact in the new world for Europeans; they used horses to scare the Native Americans because the natives didn’t know what a horse was and what they do. Horses have lots of power and compared to the other animals the horses are much faster and have a bolder look and that is why the Natives are so frightened of

The international sugar trade (1500-present) had many effects on the global economy and society. It allowed and facilitated the mistreat of slaves based of the demand for sugar, as sugar was of such high demand that slaves would be murdered for not working hard enough, or killed by the machines they worked with. In contrast to this negative effect, sugar helped post trade and bolster some countries’ economies, such as Great Britain’s mercantile system and economy receiving a major boost because of sugar. Another positive effect of the sugar trade was the improved development of mechanics and technology, with machines being built to automate production of sugar, which helped towards the creation of automated factories and production lines.

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,