Effects Of The Columbian Exchange

The Columbian Exchange was a world-wide transfer of goods, livestock, disease, ideas, and technology between the Americas and the Old World during the 1500s and the 1600s. The Columbian Exchange first began when Christopher Columbus landed in the Bahamas in 1492. The Columbian Exchange brought long lasting effects on both the Americas and the Old World. First, the Columbian Exchange brought change in economies along with its livestock and goods. Starting in the Americas, sugar cane brought over from the Old World became the mainstay in Caribbean and Brazilian economies which, along with rice and cotton production, was the foundation for slavery in the Americas. Columbus also brought over fundamental crops, mainly wheat which was, and still is, a highly

When it came to animals, Native Americans greatly appreciated the introduction of new species. Before the Columbian Exchange, Native Americans had few domesticated animals and the only ones they did have were relatively small animals such as llamas, alpacas, dogs, and guinea pigs. Europeans introduced them to horses, cattle, sheep, pigs, and goats. For the Old World, livestock and goods from the Americas had huge impacts on lands as far as Ireland, China, and Africa. The Americas introduced the Old World to corn, potatoes, cassava, beans, squash, sweet potato, papaya, pineapple, tomato, avocado, guava, peanuts, chili peppers, and cacao. The two crops with the most impact on the Old World although were maize(corn) and potatoes. Corn flourished in North Africa and Spain, from there it then spread to Egypt, the Ottoman Empire, Romania, Serbia and was also important in Hungary, France, Ukraine, and Italy. In most places corn was used as animal feed, but slowly adapted to be used for more human consumption. The corn crop eventually spread to China where it supplied one-tenth of the grain product. Corn was