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Plants During The Columbian Exchange

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The Columbian Exchange is a timeframe during which the cultural and biological exchanges were conducted between the New and Old Worlds. Exchanges between Europeans and Native Americans of items such as plants, animals, diseases, and technology had a dramatic impact on lives on each side of Atlantic. Initiated with Columbus’ discovery in 1492 the exchange lasted throughout the years of expansion and discovery. Improvements in agricultural production, increased mortality rates, evolution of warfare, and education were a few illustrations of the consequences of Columbian Exchange on both Europeans and Native Americans.
Diseases as the Negative Exchange
Even though the Columbian Exchange is known to be very beneficial in terms of technology and …show more content…

There were numerous plants that were exchanged but at the core of all of them were potato and maize. Indeed, potato that is an essential ration in everyday lives was not discovered until the period of Columbus Exchange. Other new plants discovered in Americans included beans, squash, chili peppers, sunflowers, peanuts, tomatoes, avocado, and cacao. Potato became an essential in European diet in a very short period of time. It was mainly used as a cheap food for lower class population of Europe. Because of the weak European soil, potato was the only option they had at a time and later on it became the core product that nations would feed on. Maize was also important crop from the New World during the Columbian Exchange. Because of its long lasting characteristics maize was perfect for storing it away in case some years the harvest will not be as plenty as hoped for.
Technology as a Final Piece of Exchange
Historians outline four major aspects when they talk about technological exchanges during the period. Particularly, they list a written alphabet, new farming capabilities, new firearm and weapon capabilities, and architectural ingenuity as the changes that were profoundly impacted between New World and Old

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The Columbian exchange is exactly what it sounds; it's what the new world and old world gained with the explorations of the America’s. The Columbian exchange sounds like a positive aspects but it carries both negative and positive connotation as the ‘Columbian exchange’ brought diseases, foods, and new ideas following the voyage of the ever-famous Christopher Columbus. The creation of the new world – about 90 percent of the native have disappeared, but “it was exchanges of animal and plants that made the new world possible”. The introduction of the new specifics of foods like, potatoes became essential to the old world, as it can grow In the soil of the old world that has been over used (Nunn). Corn was also brought from the new world to

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If it were not for the Columbian Exchange, America would not have it’s renowned, Hamburger. However, the Columbian Exchange not only brought great joy to the bellies of many populations, but to their dismay it also brought new widespread diseases. A great percentage of the pre-Columbian population of the Americas died from communicable diseases such as smallpox, cholera, influenza, typhoid, measles, etc.

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From the New World to the Old, potatoes, beans, peanuts, and many other foods became sources of nutrition for many European countries. From the Old world to the New World animals including horses, cows, oxen, sheep, chickens, and pigs were exchanged. Horses allowed Indians to move quickly and efficiently across land. Animals became important for labor, food, and clothing. Sugar cane

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Although we mainly speak of spices when we talk about the Colombian Exchange or Christopher Columbus’s journey, we never mention the plants and crops that were also spread all across the trading route. There was never and coffee in Columbia, or oranges in Florida, or maize in many Latin American countries. Once trade began, these crops quickly spread all across the continent and flourished in some environments and quickly died out in other environments due to its climate. This helped both the new settlers and the natives, as it benefited both parties adapt also. Although the new settlers and the traders were the ones who brought the crops to the New World, such like maize, coffee, beans, avocadoes, and peanuts.

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The Columbian Exchange impacted almost every civilization in the world bringing fatal diseases that depopulated many cultures. However a wide variety of new crops

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The Columbian Exchange is often remembered as a trade system that brought the New World and the Old World together. In 1492, the Italian explorer Christopher Columbus sailed for Spain and discovered the New World horizon. This caused the worlds to come together economically and culturally all to the greed of wealth. Unfortunately, one negative consequence is the disease and the devastation of indigenous and African demographics. Meanwhile, Europe’s economy and population flourished because of the Columbian Exchange.

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The Columbian Exchange was the exchange of goods animals and plants from one country to another. The Columbian Exchange had many impacts. Some of them can still be seen today. One example is introduction of new species. Another is the slave trade that happened.

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The Columbian Exchange was extremely important to the New World and Old World during 1492. It was the exchange of new foods, diseases, and ideas. These foods would help people live healthier and longer, the diseases would kill out a lot of the population, and the ideas would advance trading and money making. This would make the Americas as we know them today a strong country.

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The Columbian Exchange was the transfer of ideas, animals, plants to new places to look more familiar, specifically related to European colonization after Columbus; from the Old World to the New World. Invasive species such as earthworms didnt exist before the Columbian exchange; palnts like dandelions didn't exist either. The byproduct of this exchange was the mixing of cultures through food and animals that would forever change the landscape that people know so much about certain areas, such as oranges in Florida, or tomatoes in Italy. Unfortunately a negative byproduct of this exchange was the exchange of diseases to vulnerable poupulations.

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The meeting of biological words between Native Americans and Europeans had remarkable impacts on both societies. The introduction of new crops had a major impact in Europe where for example potatoes, corn, tomatoes, and sweet potatoes were a vital addition to their culture and diet thanks to their versatility and their great use for not only human consumption but also crucial animal feed full of

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Examples of the food and plants that were traded from the Americas to Europe included tobacco, peppers, tomatoes, peanuts, pineapple, and turkey. The trade-off of food, plants, and ideas between the Old World and New World after Columbus’ voyages revolutionized European diets. They slowly began replacing traditional European ingredients with American foods that had become staples in the basic diets of the area. In the article “Columbian Exchange” by Janet Long-Solís, Long-Solís explains, “Upon their arrival in Europe, American plants revolutionized European diets as they slowly began replacing traditional ingredients and became staples in the basic diets of the area. They provided a more nutritional diet and helped put an end to the chronic famines that had affected Europe since the Middle Ages'' (Long-Solís).

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The Columbian Exchange is a mark in history that has lead to pivotal outcomes that has affected the world today as well as the past. The Exchange between the old and new world has brought advances to today’s world due to sacrifices and interactions between two distinctly different populations. Both worlds introduced one another to new diseases, and resources that overall lead to advancements in research and new resources of survival to help sustain populations in both worlds, which have carried over into present day and has allowed for the development of the human population. Sustainable populations allowed individuals to no longer concentrate solely on survival rather have time to research and expand knowledge about health practices and give attention to preventing deadly epidemics. Although the interaction of disease did give rise to deadly epidemics in the new world the advancements made in medicine changed how disease and illness were treated and further allowed a change in perspective about health and survival.

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This affected the wealth of the economies specifically by the exchange of the ideas of growing crops and the swapping of animals. The colonies in the New World became efficient producers of some Old World transplants like: sugar, coffee, and wheat. They also struck an interest in animals such as: horses, pigs, cattle, and chickens. While the Old World learned how to grow potatoes, maize, and tobacco. The exchange of the animals inspired new methods of farming, and both the Old and New World seemed to be able to support their colonies with their knowledge of new crops.

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In terms of benefits the Columbian Exchange only positively affected the lives of the Europeans. They gained many things such as, crops, like maize and potatoes, land in the Americas, and slaves from Africa. On the other hand the negative impacts of the Columbian Exchange are the spread of disease, death, and slavery. In document 3b it states, “... an epidemic broke out, a sickness of pustules… very many people died of them, and many just starved to death; starvation reigned and no one took care of each other.”

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However, the Columbian exchange didn’t always benefit both the Native Americans and the Europeans. Diseases were also exchanged, specifically to the Native Americans. Whether the exchanges were positive or negative, the Columbian exchange had a huge global effect, both immediately after the exchange and long-term. The Columbian exchange caused inflation in Europe, change in hunting habits of Native Americans,change in farming habits within Europe, and a large decrease of Native American populations.

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