Benefit Of The Columbian Exchange

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.

During the circa 1450-1750 C.E., the occurrence of Christopher Columbus’s adventure to the Americas has established the significance of social construction and cultural assimilation. It has also brought forth the Columbian Exchange, which resulted in massive deaths of the Native population, but notably provided an increased nutrition during this period. The variation of floras and faunas homogenized society through the exchange which unified the planet biologically singular. This completely remade the population of humans and increased productions of goods so revolutionary.

The term “Columbian Exchange” refers to the massive transfer of life between the Afro-Eurasian and American hemispheres that was precipitated by Columbus’ voyage to the New World . It was known as the widespread interchange of plants, animals, diseases, culture, human populations and technology between Europe and the Americas. After Columbus’ arrival to the Americas, the plant, animal and bacterial life began to mix between the Americas, which was also referred to as the “New World” and Europe, which was also referred to as the “Old World”. But how did the Columbian Exchange influence the Americas? The Columbian exchange had a huge effect, biologically, culturally, and demographically.

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.

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.

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 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.

Corn crops were a staple life force in the early cultures of the natives. This caused the natives to cease their early practices of hunting, gathering and moving from place to place. It helped them transform into a more agricultural society. This crop was high in yield which could sustain a large population, therefore contributing to a growth and stability of their civilizations

The Columbian Exchange brought diseases in the two countries and was also the forerunner for eliminating Native Americans in North America, but Europe acquired new ways to develop their economy further than what it already was. This discovery was what led to Europe's powers early on in the 1400’s. Europe's discoveries led to the modernization of cultures along with great societies such as the New World, which became the country it is today.

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.

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

In 1492 the explorer Columbus set out on his first voyage for Spain in search of a direct water route across the Atlantic Ocean from Europe to Asia. Instead though, he found the Americas. Once in the New World Columbus ran into a native people and decided to name them Indians. This accidental finding of the Americas ignited the first contact ever between the Western and Eastern hemisphere. The result of this was The Columbian Exchange in which there was a large trade of animals, plants, technology, culture, slaves, diseases, and even new religions. This exchange effected the way Europeans, Americans, Asians, and Africans lived their daily lives. The Columbian exchange was by far one of the most paramount events in the history of world technology, agriculture, culture, and ecology. In this research paper the following will be answered:

After Columbus' 'discovery' of America in 1492, an began exchange between the 'Old World', the continents of Europe, Asia and Africa, and the 'New World', the continents of what today is North America and South America. Historian Alfred Crosby called this exchange the 'Columbian Exchange'. The spread of new foods and animals benefited both the Old and New worlds, although the exchange of disease devastated the New World. Historians estimate that as many as 100 million people died as a result of the spread of diseases such as Small Pox and Influenza. This exchange changed world history and created the world that we live in today.

Was the Columbian Exchange primarily a good thing or a bad thing? Though there were many good and bad results from the Columbian Exchange, overall, the Columbian Exchange was a good thing because, not only did it allow for a more even distribution of food across the globe, but it brought the world together and increased our knowledge overall as it pertains to the societies of our world.

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.