Effects Of The Columbian Exchange

The Columbian Exchange is one of the more spectacular ecological events of the past millennium. the Exchange is a time period consisting of biological and cultural exchange between the Old and the New World. Plants animals, disease, and many more were exchanged between the Europeans and the Native Americans.Christopher Columbus discovered the Americas on August 12, 1492 and the exchange lasted for many years to come. This exchange greatly affected almost every single society on Earth at the time. The Columbian Exchange of food majorly upgraded the European's diet, not only because it added to the taste, but by also simply increasing society's ability to feed more people. Less and less people had to worry about starving, which was a large factor in the European population growth. Starvation was easily overcome through the transplantation of the New World foods. The exchange of crops strongly affected both the Old World and the New World.When the Europeans

The Native Americans had only a few animals servants. They had two kinds of South American camels, the guinea pig, the dog, and many kinds of fowls. They had no beast of burden and had no animals to help with their hard labors. On the second voyage in 1493, Columbus brought sheep, cattle, chickens, horses, pigs, dogs, and goats. When the animals were brought across the ocean it brought new labor forms, new types of transportation, and new sources of food. The animals did not catch as many diseases as the humans, so while the humans would die off, the animals would thrive on the wildlife. The Columbian exchange is often praised for its positive effects, not usually considering the negative aspects. New diseases introduced by the Europeans (mostly from Asia) to which indigenous people had no cure, depopulated many cultures. Research states that from 1500 to 1650 the Native Americans population decreased fifty to ninety