What Caused The Columbian Exchange

The Columbian Exchange, beginning in 1492 with Christopher Columbus’s first voyage, was a global trading standoff between the Old World and the New World. Plants, animals, and diseases were being traded fervently between Europe, Africa, and the Americas. The global and social changes made during this exchange would leave a lasting impression on the Americas in the years that followed.

The Columbian Exchange was the widespread transfer of plants, animals, culture, ideas and technology between the eastern and western hemispheres. It began in the fifteenth century and lasted until the eighteenth. There were many economic geographic and social impacts of the Columbian Exchange. Without the Columbian Exchange society today would not be the same.

This essay will explore whether the old world or the Americas benefitted more from the Columbian exchange. The Columbian exchange was the transfer of plants, animals, ideas and more between the Americas and the old world during the 15th and 16th century. This essay will first talk about the slavery that happened during the Columbian exchange. Secondly the deaths that were caused by the transfer of diseases through the Columbian exchange. Lastly how the exchange of foods through the Columbian exchange lead to an agricultural revolution.

First, the Columbian Exchange took place between the old and new world. The old world gave the new world things such as horses, pigs, and cows. They also gave the new world wheat, sugar, rice, and coffee. Also, the Columbian Exchange resulted in cultural division. Lastly, the Columbian Exchange caused many Native Americans to die from European diseases.

The Columbian exchange is an interchange of plants, ideas, diseases and many more things traded between the New World and the Old World during the 15th and 16th century. It all began in 1492 after Christopher Columbus went on his voyage and discovered the New World. After discovering the New World many milestones in history began to form. Following in his steps of his new discovery came some of the Europeans. Since the Colombian exchange began, many things have been brought to America and many things have been sent over in the directions. The Old World has brought over many supplies as in sugar, coffee, horses and smallpox. The Americas brought to them corn, cocoa beans, and tomatoes in their exchange. Not only did the old and the new world bring great things to each other, they also brought diseases and a decrease in the population of the new world. Instead of the old world taking in the new world’s culture, it was reversed. The new world had taken in the old world’s way of lifestyle.

In “The Columbian Exchange: A History of Disease, Food, and Ideas,” the authors point out that there were two channels in the transfer of food crops. One are unknown tropical spcies from the New World, which has affected on the growth of local cuisines. They are rich in calories and improving taste and vitamin intake. Otherwise, the Old World also brought certain crops. America gave a plenty of land that helped response the high food demand, and became the main supplies for Old World markets. In this way, they unknowingly carried many Old World diseases, such as smallpox, meales, and other diseases. They were unfamiliar to the Native America and they never had developed immunity to such disease. By the early 1600’s, the population of Indians decreased nearly 90%. Furthermore, Columbus’ sailors encountered sexually with native women Indians so that they brought the deadly bacteria unwittingly back to Europe. This reason led slavery system traded from Africa for labor requirement for cotton and tobacco plantation

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.

History has shaped every part of the various cultures and regions throughout the world. These influential historical events might have made a large impact, while other events only impacted a few regions. Some historical events can also have a positive influence on one area and a negative influence on another. A historic event that had a large impact and influence, both positive and negative, on several different regions of the world was the Columbian Exchange. In a broad sense, the Columbian Exchange can be described as a period of time where there were numerous exchanges between the new and the old worlds. Many of the items that were exchanged included both cultural and biological elements (Malone et al.). It is often stated that Christopher Columbus is responsible for starting this massive cultural exchange

In 1492, when the first of many Europeans arrived to the Americas, a new era had begun. The great leaders and trades between the old and new worlds have changed humanity for the better and worse. To understand how we should view the Columbian Exchange, it must be understood by its impact on the history of trade, change in civilization, and diseases.

These diseases killed millions of Natives living in the New World, negatively affecting the New

The Columbian Exchange was a huge deal for Europe. Traders were going back and forth, from Europe to the New World, and back. This means that the traders were bringing new things, such as food and ideas. Food such as turkey, pumpkins, potatoes, corn, and more went from the Americas, or the New World, to the Old, or Europe. Things such as onions, bananas, livestock, and grains went from the Old to the New. However, one of the biggest downsides was that the Europeans brought diseases, such as smallpox, whooping cough, measles, and more to the New World. This ultimately destroyed the Native population, since they were not used to these diseases. The Columbian Exchange also brought along another horrible downside, the beginning of the Slave Trade,

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.

he Columbian Exchange had a very significant impact on the Americas and Europe between 1492 and 1750. This exchange gave civilizations the opportunity to not only migrate but develop and explore more of the world through trade, interactions, and discoveries. If it hadn’t been for the Columbian Exchange a lot of resources would not have been as widespread and animals wouldn’t exist as much in places as they are now.

Along with the food, animals, and items came disease. In The Columbian Exchange: A History of Disease, Food, and Ideas written by Harvard Professor Nathan Nunn and Associate Professor at Yale, Nancy Qian and published by American Economic Association, it reads “The list of infectious diseases that spread from the Old World to the New is long; the major killers include smallpox, measles, whooping cough, chicken pox, bubonic plague, typhus, and malaria” (Nunn and Qian). The spread of disease caused massive drops in populations throughout the world. In Doctor James Carrick Moore’s book The History of Small Pox written in 1815 states that “several warlike nations of Indians had been almost extinguished by the Small Pox and fifty years ago heaps of bones, like trophies of the disease, were to be seen in the fields, under the tufted oaks” (Moore). Not only the transfer of diseases, but also the exchange of food, ideas, and animals had such a large impact on the world and humankind.

The impact on the health of the people from the Old and New Worlds had their similarities and their differences. This impact on the health of the people was based on the event known as the Columbian Exchange. The Columbian Exchange occurred in 1492 when Christopher Columbus sailed across the Atlantic Ocean to find a new route to Asia. The event of the Columbian Exchange greatly changed the health of the peoples of the Old World and the New World.