How Did Christopher Columbus's Impact On American Culture

Throughout history, the world has been significantly influenced by the convergence of people and ideas, leading to advancements and tragedies across the globe. In 1492, Christopher Columbus arrived in the Americas under the Spanish flag. His journey marked the beginning of European colonization of countless indigenous tribes, also creating a system of trade routes between Europe, Africa, and the Americas that lasted from the 16th to the 19th century. This trade involved the exchange of goods, people, and crops between three continents. Similarly, the Middle East was connected to a vast network of trade routes known as the Silk Road. It facilitated the exchange of goods, ideas, and technologies between the different civilizations. Ultimately,

Upon the Europeans' arrival, they were introduced to the Taino tribe, who had lived there for a millennium before their appearance. The natives showered their new guests with gifts including parrots and gold. Instead of leaving them undisturbed, the Europeans took the indigenous people captive and began founding the first colonies. Christopher Columbus, the lead explorer on the journey described the event in his journal by stating he could easily “conquer and enslave all of them” (Columbus). His crew proceeded to rape and torture more natives, eliminating 70% of them. In addition to the horrors that occurred, the Europeans brought over a multitude of diseases including Smallpox, Measles, Typhus, and Cholera, for which Native Americans had no immunity. Inevitably, the population began to rapidly decline, and by the end of the century, the native population was declared extinct ("History vs. Christopher"). The migration of Europeans and diseases had diminished an entire population conveying how the Americas had been greatly affected by the movement of people. Due to this act of genocide, the Taino people were unable to maintain their cultural practices and pass them down to future generations. Many Taino traditions and beliefs were lost because of the

New ideas and goods were traded along a network of trade routes known as the Silk Road. These routes connected China to the Middle East, which was then connected to Europe. Throughout the Silk Road, there was a large network of strategically located trading posts, markets, and thoroughfares designed to streamline the transport, exchange, and distribution of goods. This allowed for the efficient exchange of fruits and vegetables, livestock, grain, leather and hides, tools, religious objects, artwork, precious stones and metals, and language, culture, religious beliefs, philosophy, and science. Additionally, commodities such as paper and gunpowder, were also among the most-traded items between the East and West. Paper allowed for mass communication between societies and messages to travel immensely faster (History.com Editors). Through these several trading passages goods and ideas were able to move faster throughout, which connected the Middle East to the rest of the world. In response to the goods being traded, inventions were created to utilize the resources. For instance, the paper press was invented to match the need for information, leading to the creation of books and newspapers. Despite the many advancements throughout the peak of the Silk Road, triangular trade created a lasting impact on commerce, culture,