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The economic impact of the columbian exchange on america
The economic impact of the columbian exchange on america
Economic impact of columbian exchange
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In Spain, the Columbian exchange brought new crops that enriched the diet, such as maize, beans, squash, cassava, and potatoes (Norton 24). Europeans brought domesticated livestock to the Americas, as well, including cattle and horses. Two more important crops were sugar and tobacco. The exploited labor of natives and Africans cultivated these crops for European and colonial consumption. Spain experienced short term economic growth from the discovery of gold and silver deposits (Norton 24).
The Columbian Exchange between the new world and the old world significantly change people’s lives. After 1492, Europeans brought in horses to America which changes the nomadic Native American groups’ living from riding on buffalos to horses. This interchange also change the diet of the rest of the world with foods such as corns (maize), potatoes which are major diet for European nowadays. Besides all the animals from old world to the new world, Spanish also brought in the diseases that Native Americans were not immune of, such as smallpox which led to a large amount of Native Americans’ deaths.
The Columbian Exchange, also known as The Great Exchange, is one of the most significant events in the history of world. The term is used to describe the widespread exchange of foods, animals, human populations (including slaves),plants, diseases, and ideas from the New world and the old. this occurred after 1492. Many goods were exchanged between and it started a revolution in the Americas, Africa and in Europe. The exchange got its name when Christopher Columbus voyage started an era of a tremendous amount of exchange between the New and Old World that resulted in this revolution.
As time went on, gardens became plantations for more than just food production, for example cotton production, and apples became a major industry in North America. European fruits and vegetables dominated the new world in an exchange known as the Columbian exchange. According to the documentary America Before Columbus, the potato was first introduced in Spain from the Americas during the 1600's but it's cultivation and use has now spread to Italy, Northern/Eastern Europe, Austria, Poland, France, Switzerland, England, Ireland and Germany. Since the Irish had a limited amount of food available to them as a result of war, they quickly adopted the potato and one hundred years later the Irish population had more than doubled. Towns, like Berlin, grew into large cities and by the 1700’s the European population had exploded, all because of the introduction of the potato during the Columbian Exchange.
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.
Massive demographic catastrophe occurred wherever Europeans made contact with indigenous Americans. Within his The Columbian Exchange, Alfred Crosby writes: “When the isolation of the New World was broken, when Columbus brought the two halves of the planet together, the American Indian met for the first time his most hideous enemy: not the white man nor his black servant, but the invisible killers which those men brought in their blood and breath” (Crosby, 31). It was common to see a drop of 90 percent or more in native populations after the arrival of the Europeans (Than). European pandemics such as smallpox would severely depopulate or wipe out many natives of the Americas. This idea of the Columbian Exchange, the enormous widespread
To begin with, the 15th and 16th centuries mark the commencement of European colonization and the integration of American and European culture. Countless Europeans and American Indians were influenced by one another, throughout the Columbian Exchange. Granted, the Native Americans suffered immensely, but there are more importantly numerous significant advantages to be noticed because of European migration. The Columbian Exchange led to the introduction of various products and sources of food, the merging of different groups of people, and transformations in American government and economy. Without the combination of European and American Indian culture, life today would be incredibly less progressive and different.
“Christopher Columbus was an Italian explorers. Not only for exploring the old worlds but the new worlds. Christopher was born in Genoa, Italy, in 1451” (Christopher Columbus). Columbus went to the sea at a very young age.
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.
Nicholas Dunn September 14, 2014 Mr. Gilliland HIST 1120 Module One Exam Part 1 Columbus’ voyages had a significant impact on the New and Old Worlds. How did the Columbian “Exchange” impact those cultures? What were the implications?
Wheat, oats, and barely are all new foods brought to the Americas which also had weeds in between the seeds which displaced native flora and fauna.
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.
Some states thrived under the trade, while others economically deteriorated so drastically that they continue to suffer today. Despite the consequences, the trade connected the world closer than ever before. A main reason why Europeans colonized the New World with such swiftness and determination lay in the drinks of nobles and the soil of peasants. Sugar was in high demand during the 1500s and 1600s, and the fertile coasts of the Carribean and Brazil made for a perfect environment. Sugar cane was just the tip of the iceberg: Europeans soon discovered crops native to the Americas that heavily impacted world economy, a prime example being the potato.
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.
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.
