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Positive And Negative Effects Of The Columbian Exchange

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The Columbian Exchange was the transfer of items from the Old World, Europe and Africa, to the New World, North and South America. Italian explorer named Christopher Columbus discovered this new world in 1492. He found the new world while he was searching for a new trade route to Asia. Despite the title of “Exchange”, this was not an exclusively positive transfer between Europe and the New World. This exchange plants, animals, technology, and diseases, permanently altered both worlds positively and negatively. While few items did prove beneficial, others had significant and devastating effects, especially in the New World. While agricultural advancements positively affected the Old World, diseases left disastrous effects on the New World. Europe and Africa received several beneficial items from the New World, specifically new agricultural techniques and crops. According to Professor Ramona Shelton, “food for the poor in general, had been barely growing for the past few decades. Malnourished people have a decreased fertility rate.” After reaching the New World this changed. According to The Unfinished Nation, beans, corn, and potatoes, all become common in European Diets. This allowed poorer citizens to consume more nutritious diets, benefiting and changing the entire population. Surprisingly, these recently discovered crops from the Americas grew abundantly in Europe. This greatly improved the health of regular people. There were also unseen animals that came with back to Europe. Meat animals such as Turkeys came, as well as large animals like bears, as stated by Professor Ramona Shelton. Because of the new crops and land, the explorers were having to learn proper agriculture for the land. As The Unfinished Nation states, “the arriving white people learned from the natives updated agricultural techniques appropriate to the demands of the new land.” While the Europeans had agriculture of their own, they needed to learn how to adapt their own crops to grow proficiently in the new soil. On the other hand, the New World received a brutal impact from diseases that originated from Europe and Africa. The Native Americans faced harsh illnesses they had never experienced before. The Unfinished Nation claims

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