What Is The Impact Of The Columbian Exchange On American Culture

A New Way of Life: How The Colombian Exchange Made a Difference in Our Lives It’s hard to believe that events that happened centuries ago have a huge impact on the way in which we form our ways of life. The Columbian Exchange was one of those events that still has effect on our lives, today. According to Cory Malone, (“Beginning after Columbus' discovery in 1492 the exchange lasted throughout the years of expansion and discovery”). It was a time period where cultural and biological exchanges were made between the new world and old world.

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.

There are both negative and positive attributes of The Columbian Exchange. It lasted during the years of expansion and discovery, but shaped the world as we know it today. This transfer had a direct impact on the cultures of North America and Europe, which introduced unfamiliar animals, diseases, and plants. The Columbian Exchange was a significant ecological event that changed the lives of people on both continents. Horses were introduced to the New World by Spanish Conquistadors.

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,

African laborers became so numerous in the new world, especially in Brazil, and their descendants became the majority population of the Brazilian region. These events caused great economical upset throughout the Americas, as slaves were no longer profiting from their work. Similar to the devastating disease that Europeans brought to the Americas, the migration of Bantu-speakers into Africa during the 14th century brought infectious and parasitic diseases with them, such as malaria, to the people of West Africa. Overall, the Colombian Exchange had devastating effects on the New World, and will continue to be remembered as a period of great social, cultural, and economical upset throughout the

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.

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.”

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.

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.

Although this failed due to the fact that many of the natives rebelled against the European slavers, but the damage was still done. “ Due to work requirements husbands and wives could only meet every ten months and when they met they were too exhausted to work... because of the harsh work conditions many mothers could not take care of their young, sometimes out of sheer desperation mothers drownded their babies so they wouldn’t suffer (DOC 2) This Document really shows how poorly treated the natives were, because many of them had to do back-breaking work such as sugar cane harvesting and cotton picking. The Spanish felt that this was not dehumanizing, this was the fact that they were not Christians. The Europeans believed that because the natives were not Christians it gave them the right to enslave them because they were not going against God's word.

The Columbian Exchange between the new world and the old world significantly change people’s lives. After 1492, Europeans brought in horses to America which changes the nomadic Native American groups’ living from riding on buffalos to horses. This interchange also change the diet of the rest of the world with foods such as corns (maize), potatoes which are major diet for European nowadays. 
Besides all the animals from old world to the new world, Spanish also brought in the diseases that Native Americans were not immune of, such as smallpox which led to a large amount of Native Americans’ deaths.

The Columbian Exchange, also known as The Great Exchange, is one of the most significant events in the history of world. The term is used to describe the widespread exchange of foods, animals, human populations (including slaves),plants, diseases, and ideas from the New world and the old. this occurred after 1492. Many goods were exchanged between and it started a revolution in the Americas, Africa and in Europe. The exchange got its name when Christopher Columbus voyage started an era of a tremendous amount of exchange between the New and Old World that resulted in this revolution.

The intended audience of the article “ The Columbian Exchange- a History of Disease, Food and Ideas” are scholars and students. The article has large amount of statistics provided about the amount of production of certain foods in certain countries, the amount of exchange between the old world and the new world and the top consuming countries for various new world foods. The foods discovered also includes their benefits and harms. 2. The author’s main argument is that the new world has several impacts on the old world which includes many pros and cons.

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,