How Does The Columbian Exchange Affect The Modern Economy?

The Columbian Exchange was a major factor in creating the world we live in today. It was much more vital to the creation of our modern world than the gun, because it touched all facets of live, unlike the gun. The gun mainly affected the hunting and slave trades, but the Columbian Exchange affects the entire economy of the world. The Columbian Exchange is more important to History than the gun because it lead to the exchange of ideas, the improvement of products, and the specialized modern economy as we know it. Throughout history, trade has always led to the exchange of ideas between the parties involved. Whether it was the Greeks and Romans trading across the Mediterranean, or the Chinese trading along the Silk Road, when groups of people meet to trade, they see what the other group is doing well and attempt to replicate it. This leads to the improvement of products on both sides, as the parties attempt to outdo each other for dominance of the marketplace. As markets become more competitive, the result for the consumer is lower prices and better products, which has a huge impact on the way we live today. If competition wasn’t a thing, I would still be typing this paper on a typewriter instead of a MacBook. This

Before the Columbian Exchange, people were very self- sufficient, producing everything they needed themselves for the most part. With the advent of oceanic trade, people began to realize it was much more efficient to make only the things they were good at making, and trade those things to get what they needed. The culmination of this is the modern, industrial economy we have today, centered around manufacturing and trade. Without this, we would still be stuck in the 17th century, making our own clothes, and growing our own food. The world would be an unimaginably different place today if it weren’t for the Columbian