Columbian Exchange Research Paper

Srinivas Chandran
Prof. Adam Hill
History Midterm
October 8, 2015
List A: Question 2
The Columbian exchange became a major factor in the development of the “Old World” and the “New World”. The Columbian exchange started during 1492 between major European powers such as the Spanish and Portuguese and the Native Americans of the Americas. The exchange was started by Christopher Columbus, who is the person who discovered the Americas. The Europeans brought plants, animals and diseases along with them to the “New World” (Americas), plants such as wheat, barley, oats and grapes were brought in by the Europeans. Furthermore, they brought in animals such as horses, cattle, pigs and sheep and in return took back precious metals and few crops such as

In the course text, there is a note which states the thought of Adam Smith, who is the father of economics. Adam Smith states that an acre of potatoes has the three times the quantity of food produced from an acre planted with wheat. The plantation of potatoes were quite inexpensive when compared with plantation of wheat and he further adds that the potatoes are generally considered poor man’s crop as it was affordable by the laborers, who worked in the plantation. Adam Smith was very much interested in potatoes as it made a significant impact in the economy by increasing the population and the rents more than before. Maize is another crop which made a significant impact in France. It is also considered as a poor man’s crop according to John Locke, who says that the poor not only can feed on maize for food but also provide it for nourishment to their cattle. Another note in the course text states that sweet potatoes were taken into the Chinese markets secretly from the Philippines in the mid-1700. The Chinese governor Jin Xue-zeng asked his people to grow sweet potatoes during the famine in China. Sweet potatoes were considerably cheap according to the Chinese back then and it was available to everyone from children, old people to even beggars. The

Slavery became widespread in the Ottoman Empire after the conquering of Constantinople. As per the Ottoman Law, it was not legal to enslave a Muslim even though, it was legal to have slaves from other religions as it was an Islamic Empire. As the Ottoman Empire expanded children from other religions were abducted from their families at very young age and were fostered in Turkish families. These children were provided with knowledge about battles and were trained into effective soldiers. These slaves shouldn’t own properties nor marry and have children. They were very much dependent on the Ottoman Sultan. Unlike other empires which had slavery, the Sultan made high priorities to provide education to the slaves and provide them with an opportunity to raise their status in the society. The Ottoman slaves were allowed to be part of the military, government and trade activities on behalf the Sultan. Janissaries was a high standard military force of the Ottoman Empire and were mostly made up of slaves from other religions. Janissaries were recruited for the bureaucracy of the Ottoman Empire. Chief Ministers of the Ottoman Government were usually slaves. These slaves were highly paid than even certain Muslims, who were part of the Ottoman Government. The opportunities provided to the slaves helped the