What Are The Causes Behind 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.”

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.

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.

The Columbian Exchange took cultural diversities and made America. It introduced biological, economic and cultural impact with drastic consequences. It is considered too had changed years of evolution.

Some main factors that encouraged exploration had a lot to do with trade and wealth. It was very hard to feed a lot of people since many areas did not have the food supply that they needed. Also, being able to discover fasters ways of traveling different routes led exploreres to new areas of the world by sailing on more modern boats that went farther rather than the smaller boats that were around for most of the time. The rich merchant class provided money for people to travel, if they succeeded they became more wealthy, if the voyagers did not succeed they simply lost their wealth.

In the 1500s, the Conquistadors came to the new world from Europe. After the Conquistadors came and conquered the new world many Native Americans fell ill with the diseases brought from Europe. After the Europeans entered the new world an estimated 15 to 20 million Native Americans died (doc 5). A majority of these deaths were due to the introduction of smallpox from Europe to the new world (doc 5). This is because the majority of the Native American population did not have the immunity to these diseases as the

The history of the United States began with Virginia and Massachusetts; their histories begin with epidemics of unidentified diseases. Smallpox was the worst and the most amusing diseases that were out. Smallpox were just killing down all the Native Americans, they didn’t know what to do with it all. The epidemic destroyed half of the Cherokee in 1738, in 1759 almost half of the Catawba’s, in the first years of the next century two-thirds of the Omaha’s and perhaps half of the population between the Missouri River and New Mexico.

The Columbian Exchange was an exchange between the East and the West. Many different foods, animals, cultures, etc. were migrated together to form the country we live in today. Contact from the Europeans to the Americas affected a vast amount of society with both positive and negative outcomes.

The Columbian Exchange was the exchange of food and crops, disease, ideas and people that involved Africa, the Americans and Europe. Explorers had found a new world which is commonly known as North America today. People wanted to travel to the New World to start fresh and be given freedom and rights that they did not receive in their present countries. It also helped discover new foods and revolutionary materials. The Columbian Exchange transformed the standards of living and had positive and negative effects on both the natives and the explorers.

The Columbian Exchange (also recognized as the Great Biological Exchange) Impacted the biological and cultural aspects of both sides of the Atlantic. This time is one the most important for our world's history because it introduces new concepts, good and bad on both sides of the Atlantic which spreads out through the remainder of the world through them. This historical event included the exchange of plant, animals, technology and diseases. When the Europeans came to what they called the New World there were many different plants that they had encountered that they have never been put in because they did not grow where they came from. As well as the Native Americans who had been dwelling in the same area and they had not been exposed to different plants.

Many years ago, the north and south of the world were separated by pangea, creating different ecosystems which caused different evolution in each place. As the population grew, on each side, many resources were consumed which caused the people to explore further beyond their land. When the north finally met the south, multitudinous things such as; wheat, barley, rice, turnips, potatoes, horse, goats, and cattle, were traded amongst them to better their situation. This trading route led to the Columbian Exchange, a period of time that led to great crops, culture, and deterioration at the same time. The exchanges helped our populations grow and decline through trade.

The significance of the Colombian Exchange was the Europeans bringing over their crops, animals, and diseases. First, crops are a direct way for population growth in humans. The Columbian Exchange brought new crops to the New World such as maize, white potatoes, sweet potatoes and manioc. These are all crops that are essential to our diets today. Our ability to grow and harvest plants is amazing in itself but to travel to uncharted land and thrive is truly greatness. Animals were affected by the Colombian Exchange too. Cattle and horses were brought ashore in the early 1600s and found the perfect climate in the New World. On a negative note, the Europeans brought over their diseases which almost eliminated a whole population of people. Small Pox was the culprit for most of the Native American deaths. The Native Americans did not have the immune system built for these kind of diseases and most of them died. The Columbian Exchange changed the entire demographic of the world.

Every time that we think about our past and what made a significant impact in history, we can say that the Columbian Exchange made a major impact for many people. This expansive exchange that accumulated between the New and Old Worlds has said to be a transformative time in our history and a lot came out of this exchange as well. In these times, there were many items of distribution that had been transferred between the Americas and the rest of the world. There were many significant people that were part of these times and even today we still recognize them as either influential people or ones of negative influence. The Columbian Exchange created a lot of havoc for people whether they were from the Americas, Africa, Europe or Asia. As

In regard to the Columbian Exchange, diseases, plants, and animals shaped both the new and old worlds. This was the exchange of many ideas between the two hemispheres taking place in 1942. Within the new world the Columbian Exchange shaped many different aspects by bringing destructive diseases that caused a depopulation in multiple different cultures. Contact made by the Europeans exposed Native Americans to diseases against which they were not resistant to including, smallpox, measles, chicken pox, influenza, malaria, and yellow fever. “The unintentional and microscopic allies of the Spanish was the pathogens of diseases new to the Indians.