Negative Effects Of The Columbian Exchange

The Columbian Exchange was a transatlantic trade of goods, people, and ideas between the Old and New Worlds. It began after Columbus’s 1492 voyage to the Caribbean established a sea bridge that connected the Eastern and Western Hemispheres. This meant that the ancient separation between Afro-Eurasia and the Americas was over, and a brand new frontier of trade was possible. Both the Old and New Worlds gained benefits from the Columbian Exchange. Spaniards brought novel items to the New World from Europe. Among the new technologies they brought included sailing ships, wheeled vehicles, firearms, iron technology, and more. The New World was also introduced to horses and other domesticated animals that improved farming. In addition, ancient American items traveled to the Old World. Europeans were exposed for the first time to New World foods like potatoes and corn, which became European staples. The Old World also benefitted because they were able to establish ports and plantations on fertile New World grounds to facilitate exchange and production of goods.

Spaniards unknowingly brought bacteria and viruses from the Old World that caused destructive diseases including measles, smallpox, and others. These epidemics decimated the vast majority of Native Americans in the New World. The result was a huge decline in the number of Native Americans, which effectively turned the once-dominant Native Americans into a minority on their own land to the rising number of European and African descendants. Native Americans were not the only ones who suffered. Many of Columbus’s men contracted syphilis after having sexual interactions with New World women. Even worse, they unknowingly carried the syphilis bacteria back to Europe, where it would spread to other Old World