Columbian Exchange Essay

The Columbian Exchange The Columbian Interchange, or Columbian Exchange as it is better known as, was the trade of germs, diseases, plants, animals, people and cultures. This trade connected the Old World, which was Europe, Africa and Asia, to the New World, which was the Americas. The Columbian Exchange lasted from 1497 to the 1800s. The exchange was started by no other than Christopher Columbus, who is known for ‘discovering’ the Americas, when he was trying to find a different route to Asia. This is why it is called the Columbian Exchange because it is named after him by a man named Alfred Crosby Jr. in 1972. He held academic positions at the Universities of Texas at Austin and Helsinki. He published a piece that emphasized significant, neither political nor theological, but rather biological, changes brought about by Columbus's explorations. The exchange impacted much of the Old World, but only one place benefited the most; that place was Europe. Since a majority of this newly ‘discovered’ land has yet to be tarnished, it was full of plentiful amounts of resources. In fact Columbus was from Europe, Italy to be exact. This is why Europe had more of an advantage then anywhere else. These said resources that were found in the Americas were new foods that help raise life expectancy for Europeans, an abundance of land, and

All of the trading caused an extremely negative impact on the Americas. All of the new diseases that were introduced cause major problems for the natives there. The native Americans welcomed the invaders with open arms because they were unaware of the diseases they carried. Due to their tolerance for the diseases they brought, the Europeans did not give much thought to or concern about the risks they posed to the locals. Nearly over 90% of Native Americans perished due to the smallpox, influenza, and other virus