Cultural Effects Of Columbian Exchange

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The term "Columbian Exchange" refers to the "biological crossover of agricultural products, domesticated animals, and microbial diseases from Europe to the new world and vice versa" (Bethel, Schultz). The term "Columbian Exchange" was coined by Alfred W. Crosby in 1972 (Liers). One of the cultural impacts while devastating, also had links to a biological impact (Learn Center). The cultural impact with intertwining factors was the introduction of Europeans and Africans to the American Native people. This introduction exposed the microbial diseases to the Natives while at the same time it threw the different religious cultures together into a mixing pot. A few diseases Natives contracted from Europeans were smallpox, measles, and mumps (Bethel).