What Are The Benefits Of The Columbian Exchange

In the fifth century BCE, something changed, a new innovation arose across many Afro-Eurasian civilizations— standardized currency. Prior to the innovation of currency, people would gift, trade, or barter with one another in order to exchange various goods, such as animals, food, and clothing. Bartering for goods worked well and it enabled citizens to use what they had in order to get what they wanted instead, however, this system was slow and complicated at times. Aside from bartering for goods, some civilizations opted to use precious metals as trading pieces, however the legitimacy and purity of the metals was always in question and testing their legitimacy slowed transaction times and therefore slowed the amount of trading down significantly. These civilizations began the transition to a system of organized currency in which the citizens

For example, before coinage, if someone wished to get a horse for their two cows, they would have to find someone who not only had a horse but someone would have a use for the two cows more so than the horse. Herein lies the downfalls of trading, problems which were solved through the implementation of currency. Thanks to currency, people formed their trading into a more civil and organized system. Instead of herding around animals or toting around many goods to trade, citizens were able to simply exchange currency. Trading largely took place in Agoras, which was a “large open area where individuals bought and sold commodities” (Pollard, 175). Though it isn’t a new idea, money plays a significant role in the world today as well. Much like civilizations during the Axial Age, currency is still used today in order to purchase goods such as food, artwork, clothing, and various services. More than ever, modern day people’s lives are dictated by money; it controls what someone can and cannot do, as well as their level of “comfort” per