Chris Drumheller
August 21, 2014
Advanced U.S. / VA History
Mrs. Fails
Effects of the Columbian Exchange on the World
The Columbian Exchange changed nearly every society on Earth. Without it, the products of the world would be completely different. Foods, animals, and farming techniques were transported between the New World and the Old World; yet diseases and slavery were transferred between the two worlds. The Columbian Exchange helped construct the modern way of life; yet, at the same time, it destroyed the timeworn way of life in both the new and old world.
By exchanging goods, life, generally, improved. Many animals were introduced to the Americas, including pigs and horses. This was great for the Native Americans because before they had no true source of meat, then the pigs and cows came; the native population had the possibility to grow and cities could be made. In addition, prior to the Columbian Exchange, the Indians had no beast of burden, everything had to be carried and plowed by hand, then the horse came along and changed everything. Goods were, also, introduced to Europe, such as the tomato and potatoes, and eventually caused a growth in
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With colonization comes colonists working the land; when people begin to work they want other people to work for them-for free. Unfortunately the colonists got what they wanted, slaves. This transfer of slaves from Africa to the Americas was brutal and caused many effects including the American Civil War and the Civil Rights Movement of the latter half of the twentieth century. Also, the colonist eventually became naturalized to the Americas, further population the New World. Even though negative actions did take place, positive ones did as well. Catholicism was brought by the Spanish and French and the Anglican Church was brought by the English, giving Christianity a firm foothold in the
The Columbian Exchange The Columbian Exchange had a negative effect on the world due to these reasons. Slavery, land taken from the native americans by europeans by force and diseases that wiped a major amount of native americans. The Columbian Exchange was the widespread transfer of plants, animals, culture, human populations, technology, and ideas .Three groups were affected by this the most ,Africa,Europe,Native americans between the 15th and 16th century Slavery killed more than 4.5 million people and affected way more. Slaves were in harsh conditions when coming to america.
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.
In the late 1400s, the people of Europe had discovered a new world. This new world was full of new animals, plants, and even people. The explorers of Europe wanted to take advantage of these new lands and goods, and so the Columbian Exchange was put into effect. The Columbian exchange was the term used to describe the exchange of goods and ideas between the New World (aka The Americas) and the Old World (aka Europe, Asia and Africa). Now the real question is, did the Columbian exchange do more harm than good?
Although there were several positive impacts on the populations, there were several negative effects as well. The Native American population decreased dramatically from transmittable diseases, mainly smallpox, and warfare from the Europeans. Human slavery became the universal method for replenishing natives. The lack of the native population was taking its toll on the land, therefore was filled by using useful labor or African slaves to work on the plantations in the New
The Columbian exchange both negatively and positively affected the relationship and interactions between the natives and Europeans in North America. Positively, the natives received new technology, goods, and animals, such as horses, cows, coffee, and wheat. These new supplies allowed the natives to build their societies, and improved the ease in which they were able to live. This increased the assimilation of European cultures among native tribes, as the natives witnessed the technological prowess-at a level akin to magic to the natives-that the Europeans maintained. However, the introduction of New World products such as gold, silver, corn, potatoes, and tobacco to the Europeans began to change the native's viewpoint.
These changes were for some good and others not so much. For example, Europeans enjoyed these products that came from the New World but as for the Native Americans in the New World they were excited about what was happening. The Columbian Exchange as said by Long-Solis (2003) was, “the interchange of plants and food products that took place between
The Columbian Exchange affected the global economy several different ways. The Columbian Exchange established slavery, spread silver, and spread cash crops throughout the world. The triangular trade was also a major part that emerged from the Columbian Exchange and influenced slavery, the spread of silver, and the spread of cash crops. During the Columbian Exchange, diseases spread around the world. As the Spaniards explored and exploited the New World, diseases spread to the New World and took out millions of Native Americans.
The Spanish soon realized that they would need to import more people to the Americas so they could replace the dying native communities. In an article for Khan Academy Eman Elshaikh wrote, “Because there were so few people, there was a shortage of labor in the Americas. That need for labor contributed to the rise of the Atlantic slave trade.” People were being captured and taken as slaves, primarily in Africa, and were moved to the Americas in vast numbers. While slavery is a major issue in and of itself there is a multitude of other issues that surround people being transported on ships for months on end.
The Columbian Exchange was extremely important to the New World and Old World during 1492. It was the exchange of new foods, diseases, and ideas. These foods would help people live healthier and longer, the diseases would kill out a lot of the population, and the ideas would advance trading and money making. This would make the Americas as we know them today a strong country.
Economic Effects of the Columbian Exchange Inflation of cash-crops, slavery and silver resulting from the Columbian Exchange caused a drastic effect on the global economy. Cash-crops forged new trade routes across continents, slavery supported New World exports, and silver caused power shifts in the world 's distribution of wealth. As Spanish expeditions to the New World increased in size and purpose, the economic effects on the rest of the world spread with equal vigor. The triangular trade circulated commodities between Europe, Africa, and the Americas. From Europe some commodities were distributed throughout Asia.
However, the Columbian exchange didn’t always benefit both the Native Americans and the Europeans. Diseases were also exchanged, specifically to the Native Americans. Whether the exchanges were positive or negative, the Columbian exchange had a huge global effect, both immediately after the exchange and long-term. The Columbian exchange caused inflation in Europe, change in hunting habits of Native Americans,change in farming habits within Europe, and a large decrease of Native American populations.
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 Columbian Exchange impacted almost every civilization in the world bringing fatal diseases that depopulated many cultures. However a wide variety of new crops
The Columbian Exchange refers to the monumental transfer of goods such as: ideas, foods, animals, religions, cultures, and even diseases between Afroeurasia and the Americas after Christopher Columbus’ voyage in 1492. The significance of the Columbian Exchange is that it created a lasting tie between the Old and New Worlds that established globalization and reshaped history itself (Garcia, Columbian Exchange). Worlds that had been separated by vast oceans for years began to merge and transform the life on both sides of the Atlantic (The Effects of the Columbian Exchange). This massive exchange of goods gave rise to social, political, and economic developments that dramatically impacted the world (Garcia, Columbian Exchange). During this time,
The benefits did outweigh the consequences. To start off, I have three topics to support/back up my conclusion that the benefits did outweigh the consequences. Next, the Columbian Exchange. The Native Americans gave the Europeans gold and silver. They also gave them corn, potatoes, beans, vanilla, chocolate, tobacco, and cotton.