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Catastrophe In The Columbian Exchange

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Massive demographic catastrophe occurred wherever Europeans made contact with indigenous Americans. Within his The Columbian Exchange, Alfred Crosby writes: “When the isolation of the New World was broken, when Columbus brought the two halves of the planet together, the American Indian met for the first time his most hideous enemy: not the white man nor his black servant, but the invisible killers which those men brought in their blood and breath” (Crosby, 31). It was common to see a drop of 90 percent or more in native populations after the arrival of the Europeans (Than). European pandemics such as smallpox would severely depopulate or wipe out many natives of the Americas. This idea of the Columbian Exchange, the enormous widespread
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These diseases completely wiped out the 10 million or so Native Americans on the islands and at least ½ of the more than 100 million on the mainland of North America.” The Europeans that came brought diseases that killed many Native Americans and destroyed entire empires. This

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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.

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In the Columbian Exchange, diseases were brought from Europeans and the population of American Indians had declined by 80-90% during the first hundred

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The Exchange also brought new diseases to both hemispheres, though the effects were greatest in the Americas. Smallpox from the Old World wiped out millions of the Native American population to mere fractions of their original

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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.

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“Then there was great destruction of American Indians by war, disease, and killing work, and the importation of [African Slaves] into Spanish America was begun in order to fill the void in the labor market,” (Columbus, Document 5). This quote explains that Native Americans were dying from diseases, wars, and killing work that Europeans had to start buying slaves from Africa just to do the work of the dead Native Americans. Moreover, Native Americans did get sick, but the diseases weren’t as bad as the ones in Europe. A drastic population decrease happened from diseases which resulted in a small amount of Native Americans left. For one reason, it was common for rodents to get on ships and getting to the new land, and rodents can carry diseases.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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,

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.”

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