The Columbian Exchange

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,

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. The exchange offered great wealth to the New and Old Worlds and increased their quantities of resources. Also the spread of crop growing increased the demand for labor. This situation ensured the

During the exchange, religion and cultural practices were spread from the Old World to the New World. This spread developed new customs that changed the way we perceive each other and the ways we interact with each other. The two major religions that spread were Christianity and Roman Catholicism. Christianity first came to the Americas with the Europeans. Unlike today, there was no official separation between the church and state, “and politics and religion were very much mixed. When Columbus came to the Americas in search of land for his king, he also came to claim land for God” (Spreading Religion in the Age of Exploration). The Europeans spread Christianity, and it became very popular among the colonies of the New World. “Roman Catholicism was the official religion of Spain, so the Spanish conquistadors sought to spread Catholicism throughout their colonies, in addition to accumulating wealth and power” (Spreading Religion in the Age of Exploration). The Spanish missionaries worked very hard throughout the Americas and attempted to evangelize Native American groups. The Spanish used religion as a way to secure authority over Native American populations. These two religions caused conflict among the colonies because of the different beliefs. Laws were made based on their religions, and their government used religion to rule the colonies. Religion determined who hung around who, and who