Compare And Contrast The Columbian Exchange Between The New World And The Old World

To begin with, the 15th and 16th centuries mark the commencement of European colonization and the integration of American and European culture. Countless Europeans and American Indians were influenced by one another, throughout the Columbian Exchange. Granted, the Native Americans suffered immensely, but there are more importantly numerous significant advantages to be noticed because of European migration. The Columbian Exchange led to the introduction of various products and sources of food, the merging of different groups of people, and transformations in American government and economy. Without the combination of European and American Indian culture, life today would be incredibly less progressive and different.

The Columbian Exchange was the exchange of goods animals and plants from one country to another. The Columbian Exchange had many impacts. Some of them can still be seen today. One example is introduction of new species. Another is the slave trade that happened.

Europeans brought deadly diseases with them that caught on to the Aztec and the Inca empires, and all the native people in North and South America died. The Europeans got rid of all the Aztec and Incas Empires. “It was this zealous hunt for gold that drove the Spanish conquistadors throughout Latin America, where they would vanquish the Aztec and Incan Empires, just as they had done to the people in the Caribbean. Spanish conquistadors throughout Latin America, where they would vanquish the Aztec and Incan Empires, just as they had done to the people in the Caribbean.” The European Imperialists did similar things to the Aztec and Inca Empires as they did to the

Prior to the discovery of the New World by Europeans, Native Americans populated what is presently North and South America in massive numbers; however, due to massive population loss, mainly caused by diseases introduced by Europeans and Africans, the Native Americans were unfortunately forced to live as inferiors to the Europeans. A major issue that faced native populations of the New World was the fact that the Europeans introduced foreign animals that carried diseases the natives had never seen before. Specifically in Mexico and Peru, the natives had alpacas and llamas in small and isolated groups, so diseases were not able to originate in them [McNeil 178]. On the other hand, the animals that the Europeans brought over, such as cattle,

The Age of Exploration occurred from 1400 to 1700 C.E. It is famously known as the Age of Exploration because it was a time when explorers from Europe travelled by sea to explore west of them, and make many geographical advances. Exploration was motivated by gold, glory, and God. Along with their motivation, the Europeans also wanted to find trading partners, new goods, new trade routes, and simply find new land. With exploration, there were many good effects and many bad ones.

Columbian Exchange The exchange of plants, animals, and diseases between the Old World of Africa and Europe and the New World of the Americas is referred to as the Columbian Exchange. Following Christopher Columbus' expeditions in 1492, the exchange got underway, and it later picked up speed with Europe's colonization of the Americas. King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I of Spain engaged Italian explorer and sailor Christopher Columbus to locate a path to the Spice Islands in India and Asia that was not governed or controlled by the Portuguese. Columbus crossed the Atlantic Ocean in 1492 while sailing west and made landfall in what is now known as the Caribbean. When Columbus arrived, the local Taíno peoples were already trading with him.

Many trades and exchanges throughout history bring very diverse cultures together. Nothing like widespread exchange over two hemispheres had never existed before 1492. Even though the cultures participating in these exchanges were viewed as different since they lived on opposite sides of the globe, they also had many commonalities. The Western Europeans and the East Asians were impacted greatly by the Colombian exchange. The western Europeans destructed and changed most of what they encountered while the East Asians blended and assimilated into the “new” cultures.

Historians differ on what they think about the net result of the European arrival in the New World. Considering that the Columbian Exchange, which refers to “exchange of plants, animals, people, disease, and culture between Afro-Eurasia and the Americas after Columbus sailed to the Americas in 1492,” led to possibly tens of millions of deaths on the side of the American Indians, but also enabled agricultural and technological trade (Henretta et al. 42), I cannot help but reflect on whether the effects should be addressed as a historical or a moral question. The impact that European contact had on the indigenous populations of North America should be understood as a moral question because first, treating it as a historical question is difficult due to lack of reliable historical evidence; second, the meaning of compelling historical claims is contestable as the academic historian perspective tends to view the American Indian oral history as invalid; and finally, what happened to the native Indians is morally repulsive and must be discussed as such. The consequences of European contact should be answered as a moral question because historically, it is hard to be historically objective in the absence of valid and dependable historical evidence.

During the late 1400s and the early 1500s, European expeditioners began to explore the New World. Native Americans, who were living in America originally, were much different than the Europeans arriving at the New World; they had a different culture, diet, and religion. Eventually, both the Native Americans and the European colonists exchanged different aspects of their life. For example, Native Americans gave the Europeans corn, and the Europeans in return gave them modern weapons, such as various types of guns. This type of trade was called “the Columbian Exchange.”

When the new animals were introduced, the native species decreased immediately because of lack of protection against the foreign species. Animals such as cows and pigs were herbivores. Because of this, native herbivores had to compete for food with the foreign species. (F, Johnson) Aside from spreading disease and food, the Columbian Exchange also spread religion.

During the early 1400’s European exploration initiated changes in technology, farming, disease and other cultural things ultimately impacting the Native Americans and Europeans. Throughout Columbus’ voyages, he initiated the global exchange that changed the world. The exchange of plants, animals, and diseases between the Old and New World began soon after Columbus returned to Spain from the Americas. These changes had multiple effects, that were both positive and negative. Although the Columbian Exchange had numerous benefits and drawbacks but the drawbacks outweighs the benefits.

The Europeans were able to conquer the Americas because even though it was by “accident,” they were still more prepared for what was to come. Jared Diamond calls the European “accidental conquerors.” Diamond calls his theory geographical luck and concludes that the only way the Europeans were able to dominate the Americas was because of the way the ocean patterns happened to flow. The geographical wind patterns caused the ships to sail towards the Incas and the Aztecs and when the Europeans arrived they tried to conquer the Aztecs and Incas, they succeed for a number of reasons. One reason that they were able to conquer the Americas was because of their technological advances.

Among the many things spread and shared in the Columbian Exchange, the trading of diseases is perhaps the most significant. The natives of the Americas had never experienced the serious diseases that European explorers carried over to the New World. From smallpox to influenza and malaria to cholera, Native American populations were drastically decreased due to their poor immunity. Between the numerous amounts of European diseases, though, measles was the most remarkable in that its effects were both widespread and enduring. Measles, also known as rubeola, is a respiratory infection caused by the measles virus.

The Columbian Exchange impacted almost every civilization in the world bringing fatal diseases that depopulated many cultures. However a wide variety of new crops

Diseases only found in the European world, such as smallpox, spread to the Americas due to people migrating with these diseases. Since natives did not have diseases like these, they were easily killed off by them. These diseases ended up killing 90 percent of the population native to America. The large number of deaths allowed the conquistadors to greatly outnumber indigenous people and easily capture the now weak tribes. Some may point out that the American diseases must have also affected the Europeans.