Negative Effects Of The Columbian Exchange

The Old world and New world developed differently and had distinctly different cultures. These different worlds decided to trade and interact through what is known as the Columbian Exchange. This exchange caused a relationship between the two worlds that was positive in some regards, but negative in most. The negative aftereffects impacted mostly the New world. Some would argue that the Old World exploration that led them to the Old World had a mostly positive impact on the New World. The deaths of millions can attest that isn’t the case, and by delving further into the argument I’ll prove my case. The Old world explored the New in hopes of more land and gold. The more of these aforementioned things, the more power European countries in particular had. Many different cultures and countries tried to mix together, through the connections known as the Columbian Exchange. This Exchange is one of the most influential ecological events, and unfortunately resulted in a catastrophe for the New world. once these two different worlds tried to trade and interact with one another, the Americas were hit very hard. A bunch of native people died, and there were new diseases that didn’t have cures. Measles, the flu, malaria, yellow fever and smallpox infected the New world, killing millions. 80-100 million

The Old world received new crops as well, such as sweet potatoes which will later be considered quite the delicacy for Asia in particular. This exchange was beneficiary to both Worlds. However there were even negative crop interactions. The European settlers were giving the Americas weeds, and then burning down forests and ruining native flora, as cited by The Columbian Exchange article written by The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. Even in the case of crops, the New World is giving and then receiving negative consequences for interacting with the Old