Negative Effects Of The Columbian Exchange

Economy

Surprisingly, the native peoples were not the only ones to suffer from the European expansion, many countries and their economies would not have decreased, due to inflation, like it had. One such example would be the country of Spain, home to many famous explorers. As the Spaniards had returned from their magnificent trip to the new world, they had stolen a very special kind of loot that is normally used for a type of currency; silver. It is said that, “After the Spaniards looted Aztec and Inca treasure rooms, the gold flowing from America and Africa subsided to a trickle, but seven million tons of silver poured into Europe before 1660.” (History World International). Whatever silver that they had not stolen, was mined for them by the enslaved native peoples of the Incas and Mayans.

This had a domino effect on many other European countries and created huge holes in their economies and trading. With the downhill slide on imports and exports, most European countries fell into dire times, as it became increasingly harder to feed themselves without the produce created in other countries.

One of the few positives that came about from the occurrence of the European expansion was the Columbian exchange. The entrance of the Spanish in the Americas had brought more than a clash of new peoples and cultures. It also brought a movement of animals, plants, and diseases, between the Western and Eastern hemispheres. One of the many results attributed to the Columbian Exchange was the transfer of germs and diseases from Europe to the Americas.

Transmission of Diseases, Plants, and