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The Colombian Exchange

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The Colombian exchange was an age of European exploration that began in the late 1400’s, and included the widespread sharing of animals, plants, cultures, ideas, technologies, and diseases between Afro-Eurasian cultures and the native peoples of the Americas. The discovery of the Americans by European explorers brought detrimental effects to the new world through social, cultural, and economical changes. Large social changes became apparent as the Colombian Exchange advanced, and many of these changes can still be identified throughout recent history. For example, when the importation of African slave labor began, the combination of Europeans, Africans, and indigenous peoples led to the the developing of a social hierarchy based on race …show more content…

Wild cattle, sheep, and goats menaced the food crops of Native Americans, thus making their harvests and profits less successful. As the Spanish began to require laborers for mining, they required the young men of Peru to devote a certain amount of labor to public work projects, in a coerced labor system. Villages were compelled to send a percentage of their male population to do the dangerous work in the mines for a paltry wage. Furthermore, the population decrease brought by the Colombian Exchange indirectly caused a drastic labor shortage throughout the Americas. As a result, the Portuguese began to import slaves from Africa, thus beginning the transatlantic slave trade, which also had detrimental effects on the African populations. African laborers became so numerous in the new world, especially in Brazil, and their descendants became the majority population of the Brazilian region. These events caused great economical upset throughout the Americas, as slaves were no longer profiting from their work. Similar to the devastating disease that Europeans brought to the Americas, the migration of Bantu-speakers into Africa during the 14th century brought infectious and parasitic diseases with them, such as malaria, to the people of West Africa. Overall, the Colombian Exchange had devastating effects on the New World, and will continue to be remembered as a period of great social, cultural, and economical upset throughout the

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In the Columbian Exchange, diseases were brought from Europeans and the population of American Indians had declined by 80-90% during the first hundred

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Europeans introduced chattel slavery, primarily involving the forced labor of Africans, which had a profound impact on social structures. The transatlantic slave trade depopulated regions of West Africa and resulted in the enslavement of millions of Africans. Slavery replaced or supplemented existing indigenous labor practices, such as tribute systems or coerced labor. For example, in the Caribbean and Brazil, sugarcane plantations relied heavily on enslaved Africans, leading to the establishment of plantation economies and hierarchical social structures based on race. Slavery and the racial caste system that emerged had long-lasting consequences for social hierarchies and economic development in the Western

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Starting in the years immediately preceding 1500, Latin America became connected with the rest of the world. Some aspects of this land, including the dependence on agriculture to support itself and epidemic diseases—like smallpox—killing scores of natives, remained the same. However, between the years 1500 and 1750, changes, like the rearranging of social hierarchies/ social classes brought on by an influx of European and African peoples, dramatically reshaped the course of Latin American history. Latin America continued to depend on agriculture to support itself between 1500 and 1750. Large-scale agriculture supported urbanization in Latin America.

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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 Colombian Exchange Since the first American colonies were established, Britain had always intended to use its citizens and resources to reap a grand profit for themselves to keep their top ranking as the best imperialist country. The nutritious foodstuffs grown from the colonies caused a dramatic rise in the population, health, and life expectation of the European peoples. Although Europe 's population and economy may have thrived due to the Colombian Exchange during the late 1600 's and early 1700 's, the Americas, however, were forced to endure warfare based upon the conflicts between the Natives cultural traditions and the colonists imperialistic views, and diseases that wrought havoc on both populations from the lack of immunity. As the Americas sent over food grown from their land such as corn or potatoes, the quality of life was forever changed for the European citizens, who had before been recovering from a period of epidemics caused by poor hygiene.

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In the Americas, the main exports were silver and cash crops, both of which required work that was terribly tedious and exhausting. This led to the overwhelming predominance of slavery in the Americas, since the Europeans were not willing to carry out the hard work themselves. When the Europeans found they lacked a workforce, the sought slaves elsewhere. While the people who were called slaves changed, the institution never did. The same mistreatment, torture, and horrible conditions were evident in American slavery until it was abolished centuries later.

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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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Historians differ on what they think about the net result of the European arrival in the New World. Considering that the Columbian Exchange, which refers to “exchange of plants, animals, people, disease, and culture between Afro-Eurasia and the Americas after Columbus sailed to the Americas in 1492,” led to possibly tens of millions of deaths on the side of the American Indians, but also enabled agricultural and technological trade (Henretta et al. 42), I cannot help but reflect on whether the effects should be addressed as a historical or a moral question. The impact that European contact had on the indigenous populations of North America should be understood as a moral question because first, treating it as a historical question is difficult due to lack of reliable historical evidence; second, the meaning of compelling historical claims is contestable as the academic historian perspective tends to view the American Indian oral history as invalid; and finally, what happened to the native Indians is morally repulsive and must be discussed as such. The consequences of European contact should be answered as a moral question because historically, it is hard to be historically objective in the absence of valid and dependable historical evidence.

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The Colombian exchange created a great cultural impact on The Americas which can be seen even today. Wiping out up to ninety percent of Native Americans, the settlers that came to America created a biological imperialism on another scale. The demand from European countries for exportation quickly created a market that settlers could benefit from and Native Americans could not compete with. Deforestation started on a massive scale due to the high availability of lumber, and seas quickly started to be depleted of fish. The introduction of livestock and agriculture created an environmental revolution.

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Because European explorers brought along their native diseases (such as smallpox and tuberculosis), the native population was soon dramatically diminished. This meant that Caribbean plantation owners had to import in African slaves. This rejuvenated the African slave trade, which became an essential part of the global economy. Russian serfdom, however,

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The Columbian Exchange refers to the monumental transfer of goods such as: ideas, foods, animals, religions, cultures, and even diseases between Afroeurasia and the Americas after Christopher Columbus’ voyage in 1492. The significance of the Columbian Exchange is that it created a lasting tie between the Old and New Worlds that established globalization and reshaped history itself (Garcia, Columbian Exchange). Worlds that had been separated by vast oceans for years began to merge and transform the life on both sides of the Atlantic (The Effects of the Columbian Exchange). This massive exchange of goods gave rise to social, political, and economic developments that dramatically impacted the world (Garcia, Columbian Exchange). During this time,

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Economic Effects of the Columbian Exchange  Inflation of cash-crops, slavery and silver resulting from the Columbian Exchange caused a drastic effect on the global economy.   Cash-crops forged new trade routes across continents, slavery supported New World exports, and silver caused power shifts in the world 's distribution of wealth.   As Spanish expeditions to the New World increased in size and purpose, the economic effects on the rest of the world spread with equal vigor.   The triangular trade circulated commodities between Europe, Africa, and the Americas.   From Europe some commodities were distributed throughout Asia.

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The intended audience of the article “ The Columbian Exchange- a History of Disease, Food and Ideas” are scholars and students. The article has large amount of statistics provided about the amount of production of certain foods in certain countries, the amount of exchange between the old world and the new world and the top consuming countries for various new world foods. The foods discovered also includes their benefits and harms. 2. The author’s main argument is that the new world has several impacts on the old world which includes many pros and cons.

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During the early 1400’s European exploration initiated changes in technology, farming, disease and other cultural things ultimately impacting the Native Americans and Europeans. Throughout Columbus’ voyages, he initiated the global exchange that changed the world. The exchange of plants, animals, and diseases between the Old and New World began soon after Columbus returned to Spain from the Americas. These changes had multiple effects, that were both positive and negative. Although the Columbian Exchange had numerous benefits and drawbacks but the drawbacks outweighs the benefits.

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During the late 1400s and the early 1500s, European expeditioners began to explore the New World. Native Americans, who were living in America originally, were much different than the Europeans arriving at the New World; they had a different culture, diet, and religion. Eventually, both the Native Americans and the European colonists exchanged different aspects of their life. For example, Native Americans gave the Europeans corn, and the Europeans in return gave them modern weapons, such as various types of guns. This type of trade was called “the Columbian Exchange.”

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