The Positive Effects Of The Columbian Exchange

In the article “1491” by Charles Mann , Mann also talks about the most devastating impact from the contact between Europeans and Americans came from the spread of biological agents like smallpox, smallpox had the most effect on the Americas’ native populations there population could of been destroyed stated in the article that “Dobyns estimated that in the first 130 years of contact about 95 percent of the people in the Americas died—the worst demographic calamity in recorded history.” This shows just how serious smallpox was on people considering that they had no immunity to these diseases and because of this it was able to cause a major loss of population and of the people who lived they were still heavily affected by it. Mann also states “It is well known that Native Americans had no experience with many European diseases and were therefore immunologically unprepared—"virgin soil," in

This article focused on depopulation via smallpox. “Within just a few generations, the continents of the Americas were virtually emptied of their native inhabitants – some academics estimate that approximately 20 million people may have died in the years following the European invasion – up to 95% of the population of the Americas.” The article goes on to describe the transmission process of smallpox, incubation period, and symptoms of the disease. It then discusses the fact that diseases such as smallpox, influenza and measles were a product of the European society, specifically livestock farming and close interaction with domesticated livestock. Though smallpox outbreaks would occur in Europe, killing major portions of the population, some would survive and build immunities which they genetically passed to the next generations. Because the Native Americans had no exposure to smallpox and no genetic immunities, exposure to this virus was deadly all across the continent. “More victims of colonization were killed by Eurasian germs, than by either the gun or the sword, making germs the deadliest agent of conquest.”

David Jones realizes their immune systems were weak, and he presents the question why: is it possibly because they were malnourished, exhausted, and stressed out due to Europeans? He speaks in detail about Indians being defenseless to pathogens, through homogeneity, and how their fates depended on their entire environment. Combined with their vulnerability, “it could well be [assessed] that the epidemics among American Indians, despite their unusual severity, were caused by the same forces of poverty, social stress, and environmental vulnerability that cause epidemics in all other times and

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.

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.

Native Americans never came in contact with diseases that developed in the Old World because they were separated from Asia, Africa, and Europe when ocean levels rose following the end of the last Ice Age. Diseases like smallpox, measles, pneumonia, influenza, and malaria were unknown to

epidemics to childhood ills." (6) It was in this form that diseases were carried to

Many of the diseases, such as syphilis, smallpox, measles, mumps, and bubonic plague, were of European origin, and Native Americans exhibited little immunity because they had no previous exposure to those diseases. This caused greater mortality than would have occurred if these diseases been endemic to the Americas

Prior to the European invasion into the Native American culture, Native Americans did not have to worry about deadly diseases (Brands 5). On page 5 of the reading, it says, "Although Native Americans experienced illnesses such as tuberculosis, they no longer suffered the major epidemics that under normal conditions would have killed much of their population every year" (Brands 5). Clearly, due to the rarity of major diseases spreading within the Native American lands, Native Americans themselves would be unable to manage any kind of potential epidemic that may arise. Consequently, by the time Europe had invaded what later to be was called America, many deadly diseases began to spread, and these diseases affected the Native American population

Before 1492, the people of the two worlds, and their immune systems, had no knowledge of other diseases throughout the other world. In the Old World, diseases such as smallpox, bubonic plague, and influenza, were seen everyday by the people within that world, but in the New World diseases like that had never been seen before. Each world, brought new disease to its people. As the Europeans came to the New World, they brought diseases unknown to the Native Americans. The Native American’s immune systems were not immune to these diseases, and caused over 90% to die, due to sickness. With the integration of the Native Americans and the Europeans, a sexually transmitted disease, now known as syphilis, was spread from the Native Americans to the Europeans, introducing new sickness to the Old World.

Since the entry of Europeans, Native American individuals experienced an awesome misfortune in general the presentation of illnesses that was extended from Europe. They had never been presented to measles or little pox. The effect of these infections crushed tribes, wiping some out totally. Amid the exchange procedure, Europeans acted vindictively by exchanging covers that had been contaminated with little pox to clueless Indians. Researcher, Ann Ramenofsky noticed that, illness contact in the Americas has had its social results (Ramenofsky, 242) Similarly, the Pacific Coast individuals were constrained from their hereditary grounds to a reservation by the administration, after their tribe was essentially diminished from plagues. (Ruby, 185)

Many academic intellectuals currently agree that, among the many supporting aspects, infectious illnesses was one of the devastating causes of the community deterioration of the Native Americans (JBT Authors 1). It has been said that entire tribes has succumb to illnesses. It’s said to be quite hard to display precise figures on the total of the Native American population that succumb to due to European diseases is around 80% (JBT Authors 1).

The Americas before colonization were certainly not free of disease, but the natives had developed immunities to the diseases to which they had been exposed. The Europeans brought with them a plethora of new diseases to which the Native Americans had no immunities, and the results were catastrophic. Due to nearly all of diseases being communicable by air and touch, they spread like wildfire. The diseases the explorers brought included smallpox, measles, chicken pox, whooping cough, diphtheria, scarlet fever, trachoma, malaria, typhus fever, typhoid fever, influenza, cholera, and bubonic plague. However, the Europeans contracted several new diseases from the natives; these diseases included yellow fever and syphilis. Among the diseases spread to the New World, smallpox had the most devastating effect, followed by measles, influenza, and bubonic plague respectively. It has been estimated that between 25% and 50% of the Native American population was affected by smallpox. While the exact impact of these illnesses is hard to be sure of, it is inarguable that these epidemics had a devastating effect on the Native American

The Columbian Exchange has been one of most significant and distinguished events in the world history, this exchange had negative and positive effects to the development of the world. However, the primordial positive effect of the Columbian Exchange was the integration of the old world and the new world. The Columbian Exchange was the first event of globalization, where the two isolated continents were connected to a new interchange of ideas and goods. The Columbia Exchange expanded to a colossal tradeoff of agriculture, ecology, culture, demography, and diseases, that contributed to an important transformations and consequences to modernization of the world.

The conquest of the New World was impacted by infectious diseases, which caused the population of Native Americans to decrease. These diseases were the number one cause of death of Native Americans. If one were to survive a disease, they would not be infected again because it meant they developed an immunity to it. Most diseases are caused by microparasites. There are two stages that occur until an infection leads to a disease. In the incubation stage symptoms aren’t always noticeable, however, a person can still infect others. The disease is more likely to spread in this stage. The latent stage is the time between the infection and the stage of the infectiousness. There were many diseases that infected the Indians during this time. The main diseases were