ipl-logo

What Is The Columbian Exchange Essay

1512 Words7 Pages

Columbian Exchange Essay
A distinguished historian named Alfred Crosby first coined the name “Columbian Exchange” to describe the exchange that happened from 1492 to early to late 1800. The term “Columbian Exchange" means the exchange of many different commodities, ideas, diseases, people, and colonization for many centuries around the globe. The Columbian Exchange was one of the most important events to ever happen in history. It shaped today's world in many ways. (Mcneil Britannica, 2023)
Christopher Columbus
Cristoforo Colombo was born on October 31, 1451 in Genoa, Italy. His name translated into English is Christopher Columbus. Columbus’ father, Deminico Colombo, labored as a wool weaver in Genoa, Italy. His mother, Susanna Fontanarossa, …show more content…

The Spanish brought many new things back to the old world from the new world. Gold and silver were brought to Europe from the Americas as well. (Horgan, 2023) Some of the animals from the new world include turkeys, alpacas, ducks, and llamas. There were many different crops taken from the Americas back to europe. Some of the fruits and vegetables included sweet potatoes, maize, chili peppers, squash, tomatoes, pumpkins, peanuts, vanilla, pineapple, eggplant, tobacco, cassava, cashews, carrots, corn, and potatoes. Some other crops included, cacao beans, sunflower seeds and sunflowers, soybeans, and green beans. When corn was brought back to Europe, Asia, and Africa it affected them the most. Because it grew in unfitting places for grains and tubers. They could also use corn to feed livestock such as pigs. It also produced several harvests a year. (McNeil Britannica, 2023) Potatoes changed many Europeans' lives when they were introduced to them. Potatoes produce faster, and because they grow in the ground unlike wheat and rice, they don’t topple over when they grow too big, which can be fatal to the crop. (Smithsonian Magazine, 2023) Some of the worst food crises in Europe's recent history were caused by an overreliance on potatoes in later years. A potato blight brought on by an airborne fungus spread through northern Europe between 1845 and 1852, with Ireland, western …show more content…

It then soon spread to Central America. Many native peoples died due to lack of immunity to the diseases transmitted by them. A number of diseases were brought over to the Americas from Eurasia and Africa. Native Americans were free of the acute infectious diseases, such as measles, smallpox, influenza virus, mumps, typhus, chicken pox, scarlet fever, swine flu, pneumonia, bubonic plague, syphilis, and whooping cough. Those diseases had long plagued the majority of Eurasia and Africa before 1492. These childhood illnesses had grown widespread in most regions other than remote villages, killing one fourth to one half of all children before they turned six years old. However, with the notable exception of influenza, survivors carried some level of immunity, and frequently absolute protection, to the majority of these illnesses. Yellow fever and falciparum malaria likewise made their way across the Atlantic from Africa to the Americas. Falciparum malaria is by far the most severe form of that plasmodial infection. These illnesses circulated throughout Native American communities as epidemics in the centuries following 1492. Mass violence, along with physical and mental stress, exacerbated their effects. The Caribbean suffered the greatest, with most islands' Native American populations having fallen by more than 99 percent by 1600. Populations decreased by fifty to

Show More
Related
1209 Words | 5 Pages

New foods were discovered by settlers in the New World in addition to new ways of planting, growing and tending to crops. One of the major implementations into the new world was the potato, which is now a staple in the diet of most countries. This crop saved some countries from famine when weather and predators ruined the large grain crops. The underground tubers became popular due to the higher nutrient content and shortened tending and growing time compared to the Old-World crops. Other introductions included corn, wild rice, tomatoes, and various nuts, beans, fruits, and spices that spread across Europe from Britain to Russia.

Read More
282 Words | 2 Pages

The Columbian Exchange was the movement of people, animals, goods, plants, diseases, and microorganism that occurred in the sixteenth century. The effects of The Columbian Exchange on early American society were extensive. One of the most devastating effects was the spreading of disease that killed around ninety percent of the Native American population. When Europeans came to the New World they brought with them diseases such as, “smallpox, measles, typhus, and cholera”(document one). The native’s immune systems were not prepared to fight theses diseases and this lead to a catastrophic amount of fatalities.

Read More
503 Words | 3 Pages

People who were native to the Americas did not have strong enough immune systems to easily overcome the new European diseases, so there was mass death and suffering. For example, smallpox was spread to the Americas. In the Florentine Codex, smallpox was described to be an incredibly miserable and indomitable disease. “The disease brought great desolation: a great many died of it. They could no longer walk about, but lay in their dwellings and sleeping places, no longer able to move…

Read More
569 Words | 3 Pages

Smallpox was also a threat. One settler describes it as a “cloud over this province.” It drove off people and killed the people who stayed. It was also one of the major causes of the decline in the Native American population. There were definitely other kinds of diseases, but Smallpox was the most common.

Read More
263 Words | 2 Pages

With the increase of food crops, the Europeans went back to there country and they had a dramatic increase in their population. So, the Western Hemisphere and Europeans made a trade and started building their countries back up by sharing crops. There were many animals that Europeans have

Read More
435 Words | 2 Pages

Native Americans did not have the antibodies to combat the diseases brought over by the European explorers. Other diseases were measles,

Read More
445 Words | 2 Pages

However, not all of the aspects of the Columbian Exchange were positive. It is also important to realize that the Columbian Exchange can also be credited for the transmission of diseases which had adverse effects on both the Old and New World alike. Having no prior exposure to these ailments, the Indians were extremely susceptible to diseases. The scale of death in the Americas was overwhelming, 9 out of 10 people died in the hardest hit areas, and it was not uncommon to see 50% mortality in other

Read More
554 Words | 3 Pages

The Columbian Exchange, the transportation of plants, animals and diseases, had a dramatic impact on the agriculture and environment of both the Old World and the New World. For the New World, the foods and plants that were brought over were species that had never been seen before. The Europeans brought many grains such as wheat, barley, oats and rice. These products flourished in the rich, fertile soil of the new world. There were endless acres of land in which to grow these plants.

Read More
597 Words | 3 Pages

Columbus returned the Americas and continued claiming islands as Spanish colonies. The Columbian Exchange (named after Columbus, though influenced by many) was one of the most important effects of Columbus' voyages to the Americas. Ships returning from the Americas brought with them foreign plants and animals that Europeans, Africans, and Asians had never seen before. These included pineapples, tobacco, cacao beans (chocolate), tomatoes, squash, and turkeys.

Read More
654 Words | 3 Pages

The European conquerors had built up an immunity to certain diseases that were common in Europe. Some of the diseases that decimated the Indian population included the following: smallpox, measles, influenza, typhus, and the bubonic plague. Centuries of living near livestock had basically inoculated the European settlers against these diseases. However the Indians were not used to such diseases, resulting in a dramatic decline in the Native American population. According to Diamond, smallpox was a major role in the domination of the Americas by the Europeans.

Read More
732 Words | 3 Pages

Europeans also introduced horses, cows and pigs.    In turn the Native Americans gifted the Old World with gold, silver, corn, potatoes, tobacco, tomatoes, beans, vanilla and chocolate.   The amount of silver in Europe tripled from the introduction of

Read More
1149 Words | 5 Pages

A few of these included wheat, oaks, rice, barley, bananas, sugar cane, and even that nice cup of coffee everyone seems to enjoy. Plants that are native to the New World and extended to the Old World were mainly compromised of corn, potatoes, tomatoes, and cocoa. The animals that were transported from Europe were usually cows, horses, pigs, chickens, goats, and sheep while on the other “world” there was only one; the mighty and ferocious llama. These plants and animals were not much harm to the Native Americans when introduced, although one things that was an immense threat were the diseases and the impact they left behind the New World was not known for diseases and are hardly and recordings of them at all before the Europeans settled. However, the Europeans were notorious for illnesses since they were not much for hygiene.

Read More
926 Words | 4 Pages

This wave of migration for the Eastern Hemisphere to the Americas changed the way disease affected the lives of thousands of natives. Native Americans had not developed an essential biological resistance to diseases that were common in

Read More
519 Words | 3 Pages

While the native peoples of new world were being ravaged by diseases the

Read More
1513 Words | 7 Pages

Trade can be seen as a positive side. The Spanish brought goods such as gun powder, sugar, horses, steel, and farming machinery and more. In return the Latin American natives introduced tobacco, potatoes, tomatoes, turkey and corn. The natives were taught new skills in trade and even architecture using the new materials. Although this may initially be viewed as positive, the Spanish soon began to take advantage and exploit the natives.

Read More

More about What Is The Columbian Exchange Essay

Related Topics

Open Document