The Effects Of The Columbian Exchange On Native Americans

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.

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.

Native American Life Pre-Contact- There were many diverse Native American people before the arrival of Europeans. I am talking about Native American societies before Columbus' arrival in 1492. Most Native American communities organized as tribes with their environment severely impacting and shaping their lives. Native Americans in the Southwest had a strong agricultural society with maize being a staple food, an example being the Hopi in modern day Arizona. Those in the Northwest and Great Plains had more of a hunter gatherer society because of the lack of natural resources and also were more nomadic, not having permanent settlements like the Southwest and Eastern Native Americans. Eastern Native Americans had a mix of hunter gatherer and

Columbian Exchange- The Columbian Exchange was a way exchanging new resources between the new world and the old world. This impacted Europeans and Native Americans positively with the new materials now available, like technology, plants, and animals. There were some negative effects from these exchanges too, such as diseases. Made it easier to interact with other cultures.

After Columbus made his journey to the New World in 1492, the Europeans brought a different culture to the people of the New World and took many new ideas back to the Old one, this was the time period known as the Columbian Exchange. Most of what the Europeans took from the Exchange was good, but some of what they brought was devastating to the people in the New World. Although, this time period was very brutal for the Native Americans, the Columbian Exchange resulted in the transmitting of new technologies, an increase in remedies and cures for diseases, and a growth in resources such as food that helped to improve life.

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.

The Native Americans, at the time of the first encounter, were still very culturally and socially primitive compared to the Europeans. They moved a lot, lived mainly of fishing and hunting, spent their time cultivating and used primitive tools and equipment in their daily activities.

European came to the new world of North America and they brought out advanced technology and culture to American continent. Over time, their lives changed as they adapted to different environments and they brought tremendous changed to American Indian tribes. New trade goods became another big change that European explorers and colonists brought to American Indians. Indians was trying to use these product that the explorers provided in their daily lives. Soon, American Indian men put away their bows and arrows for European firearms and lead shot. The desire to get European goods changed ancient trading patterns and American Indians began depended on European items for daily needs. The new goods brought from European totally changed Native American

The Columbian Exchange is a huge exchange of goods and ideas between the old world and the new world. The old world is considered Europe, Asia and Africa and the new world is considered America. Their colonies started to trade with each other and that’s when they formed the Columbian Exchange. Many countries were involved in this trade, including China, Africa and Italy. The exchange of the new ideas, traditions, food, religion and diet changed cultures everywhere. The Natives gave and received many items. Even though Europeans and American Indians saw some similarities in each other, their words differed. The introduction of plants into the new world extended a process that had been taking place for centuries in the Old World. Trade

Horses and guns played a significant role in the Native Americans lives. Before horses the Indians had to walk and run to hunt. They would follow the bison or other animal’s trails. With the use of horses the Native people could expand the distance traveled for hunting. Guns were a huge change for everyone as well. Before them the people had to be close to their enemy or hunt to kill. They would use axes, bow and arrow, or arrow heads attached to sticks. The new inventions did cause problems between nearby tribes but helped when fighting or escaping the American

The Columbian Exchange was a time when the Europeans and the Native North Americans exchanged many cultural and physical ideas and items from both the New World and Old. The Europeans gave the Natives a sense of civilization when they were given a written alphabet, farming capabilities, new warfare technology, and improved building techniques. This invasion of culture gave the Europeans room to spread their knowledge of Christianity and allow them to attempt conversion of the Natives. By teaching the Natives how to read and write a European language, the Europeans could now more easily communicate and trade with the people of the New World. Giving the Natives the use of a plow for their farming techniques, gave the Europeans access to endless

The introduction of weapons, alcohol, and other European things and ideas also great and unpredictable effects. The Europeans encountered many sophisticated Indian cultures and some owe their survival to the Natives. The Europeans introduced the idea of “ownership of the land” to the Indians. Of course, tribes fought over territory to hunt, fish and occasionally practice agricultural on, but the idea of “ownership” of land was something they didn't comprehend. For some Indians the land was considered sacred, the idea of agriculture was thought of as insulting to the Earth, and many aspects of nature. For the Indians, things in nature like rivers, ponds, and even rocks, were like the saints in Christian cultures. Even after they had made deals with the Europeans for the purchase of land, they didn't understand what they had done and that led to further conflict. Europeans also changed their barter system. They had built complex economic relationships with other tribes and understood commerce as it existed in their barter and exchange system. Europeans had a destructive impact of this trading culture, trading different things than the Indians were used to and also through the use of currency.

During the Columbian exchange, the African and American populations were constantly changing, decreasing and increasing due to different factors. New foods from the Americas helped enrich the diets of the African people who lived in a very nonagricultural society. This caused a demographic change as African population rose due to a nutritious diet. A factor that caused a major decrease in the African population was the moving of native people. The African people were being sold as slaves causing the decrease in population. At this same time, the native people of America were being displaced just like the African people. Although the African people were being moved to different continents, the Native American people were being displaced from

The impact of the Columbian Exchange on most people in the Americas, Europe, and Africa were new diseases, a new way of life, and decreases in population due to the amount of economic decay. The Columbian Exchange was the creation of colonies in the Americas that led to the exchange of new types of food, plants, and animals. These types of exchanges (plants, animals, and food) also took place between Europe and the Americas. The Columbian Exchange originally began due to explorers who spread and collected new plants, animals, and ideas around the globe as they traveled. Due to the occurrence of the Columbian Exchange, there was a significant alteration in the ecology of most of the world.

As far as warfare was concerned, the Native Americans suffered great losses upon the first conflicts with the Europeans. Many Indians were armed with bows, arrows, and spears, and clad themselves in a type of leather armor. This proved ineffective against the heavy artillery of the Europeans who had thick metal armor along with guns that easily penetrated the Native Americans. Because of the disadvantages that the Native Americans held in warfare, they had to change the way that they had been fighting for centuries. The Native Americans adopted a new strategy for war that consisted of guerilla style attacks. This way, the element of surprise brought them on a somewhat more level playing field due to their technologically inferior weapons. However, over time the Indians began trading with the Europeans to get guns. This completely revolutionized warfare for the Native Americans. Never before had they been in possession of such powerful arms. This made the Native Americans much more lethal during warfare.