Christopher Columbus Wheat Spread

Words: 1446
Pages: 6

After Christopher Columbus had discovered the Americas, he wanted it to become like a European community. He wanted to plant fields and make it plentiful. In order to make the European settlers feel at home in the New World, Columbus brought different plants from Europe. One of the fundamental crops that Columbus brought to the Americas was wheat. Historically, wheat had been one of the reasons for Europe’s Economic success. According to Laws, “Wheat (and bread) affected the results of the French Revolution, the Fall of the Roman Empire and the shift to feudalism in Europe – three major parts of history!” So bringing it to the New World seemed an obvious step. On Columbus’ second voyage he brought wheat bread, as well as radishes, chickpeas, and melons. Livestock also came from Europe. Over time, new crops were introduced to the Americas. The introduction of wheat was important since for thousands of years, bread had been a central part of the European diet. Wheat did not come from the Americas. In the first few decades of colonization, European settlers had to import …show more content…
The first rotations only alternated grassland and crops, but the big breakthrough in the 18th century was because of the “Norfolk four course”. This was a crop rotation system that was invented by Turnip Townsend. He suggested using a sequence of cop rotation that included wheat, root crop, fallow and beans. In addition, after the introduction of crop rotation many aggressive weeds spread into the farm and grassland. Some weeds were brought along with the wanted seeds, while other were brought by animals, either in the fur or by earlier indigestion. Other weed seeds were probably brought by accident in the folds of clothes and fabrics. It became very important to the settlers to deal with weeds and invent new ways to get rid of them so that their crops would not be ruined. Until now, Americans spend millions of dollars trying to prevent the growth of