Columbian Exchange Essay

The Columbian Exchange stormie luna The Columbian Exchange is the term given to the transfer of plants, animals, disease, and technology between the Old World from which Columbus came and the New World which he found.It is named after the Italian explorer Christopher Columbus and is associated with European colonization and global trade following his voyage in 1492.When Christopher Columbus and his crew arrived in the New World, they brought two biologically distinct worlds into contact. The Columbian Exchange occurred when the animal, plant, and bacterial life of these two worlds began to mix. Some exchanges were purposeful — the explorers intentionally brought animals and food — but others were accidental.The

The spread of diseases was possibly the most dramatic and immediate impact of the Columbian Exchange. The effect was horrific in places where the local population had no or little resistance, particularly in the Americas. Indigenous populations thrived across North and South America prior to contact. The list of infectious diseases that spread from the Old World to the New is long; the major killers include smallpox, measles, whooping cough, chicken pox, bubonic plague, typhus, and malaria.The impact was most severe in the Caribbean, where by 1600 Native American populations on most islands had collapsed by more than 99 percent. In the Americas, populations decreased by 50 percent to 95 percent by 1650. The illness component of the Columbian Exchange was distinctly one-sided.(Nunn, N., & Qian, N. (2010). The Columbian Exchange: A history of disease, food, and ideas. The Journal of Economic Perspectives: A Journal of the American Economic Association, 24(2), 163–188.).In 1493, swine flu was spread by the pigs on board Columbus' ships, making Columbus and other Europeans ill and killing the indigenous Taino people of Hispaniola, who had never been exposed to the virus before.Smallpox and other disease germs carried by the conquerors caused the Great Dying.(Edward Winslow, Nathaniel Morton, William Bradford, and Thomas Prince, New England’s Memorial (Cambridge: Allan and Farnham, 1855), 362.) These diseases were not immune to Native Americans.

Rifles, cannons, and improved knives were brought with the New World Explorers/Traders. Natives purchased these in exchange for goods such as fur. Finally, the Colombian exchanged advanced technology and ideas in America. The European explorers brought with them a written alphabet, which the Native Americans lacked at the time.(Lesson summary: The Columbian exchange. (n.d.). Khan Academy. Retrieved April 14, 2023,) They brought new farming equipment as well as new farming ideas. They brought better weapons so that the indigenous peoples could hunt and gather food.With maritime equipment such as the sternpost rudder, triangular lateen sails, the magnetic compass, and the astrolabe, Europeans were able to expand their seagoing capabilities thanks to technology acquired from China and the Muslim world.Through Spanish colonization of these areas, the Columbian Exchange allowed Catholicism to spread throughout Mexico, Central and South America, and the Caribbean. Through French colonization, it also contributed to the spread of Catholicism in North America, particularly in modern-day Canada.Native Americans adopted and adapted Christianity after European priests and friars preached it to them.(European expansion & the Colombian Exchange. (n.d.). Willowcreek Mrs. Ness ACAD United States History, AP Human Geography & Spanish. Retrieved April