Essay on columbian exchange

Submitted By drbrookejohnson
Words: 732
Pages: 3
Open Document
Before the recording of history all land was believed to exist together as one land mass called the Pangaea. This land mass was separate into what was called the ‘New World, North and South America’, and the ‘Old World”, Eurasia and Africa. Even though he was not the first to set foot in the New World, Christopher Columbus established a lasting connection between European Kingdoms and the New World in the 11th century. After 1492, the time had come to re-establish the connection between the Old and New World, a term that has been coined the Columbian Exchange in 1972 by Alfred W. Crosby. During this time in history, many countries benefited while some population groups suffered. The Worlds were never the same after being reconnected and exchange of goods, livestock, and slaves happened. Whether the Columbian Exchange was positive or negative to the populations it affected can be decided by opinion, but one can agree that it was one of the more significant historically changing events in the past millennium. The Old World was introduced to crops such as maize and potatoes that significantly changed their way of life. Maize played a significant role in adding nutritious value to Diets in the Old world. A population boom resulted in China due to the crops ability to be cultivated in areas other hills and mountains where the population was forced to live due to limited food supply. Their once barren land could now be suitable for living due to the availability of this calorie dense crop. The Chinese are now the top producer of maize in the world and has an ever growing population stimulated by this exchange. Maize has become the primary food source in many countries such as Africa, Romania, Yugoslavia, and Europe. Another important crop to the Old World is the potato due to its content of starch and vitamins that prevent disease and provide nutrition. Coming from the Andes in South America, the potato became popular in Europe when wheat became too expensive and is now deemed an indispensible plant in the region. The potato was accepted without hesitation in the country of Ireland. This crop stimulated a growth in the Irish population allowing them to make the potato their primary food and way of life. Without these specific crops from the New World, the population and financial status of the above discussed countries may have been substantially different today.

While domesticated animals like horse and cattle where beneficial to the New World, the Columbian exchange also brought disease and epidemics. Disease associated with the Old World’s dense populations and animals such as chickens, rats, and mosquitoes affected the New World. Among these were the following: smallpox, measles, chickenpox, influenza, malaria, and yellow fever. These pathogens killed off at least 90% of the Native American Population. Smallpox, one of worst pathogens introduced to the New World, caused an epidemic in 1518 that
Show More

Related Documents: Essay on columbian exchange

The Columbian Exchange

advancing, trade was flourishing and the economy was building, but why? The Columbian Exchange had played an enormous role in creating these advancements for the New and Old World of Europe and the American Colonies. The Columbian Exchange began in the midst of the 15th and 16th centuries, marking the beginning of dispersion of ideologies, religion, plants, trade routes, and even diseases from the Old World. The Columbian Exchange created a massive turning point in history due to the large amounts of…

Words 827 - Pages 4

Columbian Exchange Consequences

The Columbian exchange was a major historical event because it caused a negative and positive impact on the world. The major positive consequences that resulted from the Columbian Exchange were that we learned new languages. I know this because they traveled a lot to new places and in the search for land they met people who had different cultures and found new languages. Another positive is that Columbus had found new land. I know this because America is the place that “Columbus found” all though…

Words 273 - Pages 2

Columbian Exchange Impact

The "Columbian Exchange" is one of the most important ecological events in human history. In 1941 the world was a minimum of two worlds- The Old World consisted of Eurasia and Africa and the New Worlds was the Americas ( Gambino , M. 2011). Alfred W. Crosby coined the term in 1972. The "Columbian Exchange" impacted living organisms that were transferred between the two worlds. The exchange of plants, animals, diseases and technology played a huge part of the transformation for the European and Native…

Words 278 - Pages 2

Consequences Of The Columbian Exchange

World plants, animals, and bacteria, commonly known as the Columbian Exchange, is one of the more spectacular and significant ecological events of the past millennium.” The European settlement of the Americas and the initiation of Columbian Exchange had an array of, primarily detrimental, consequences on the Native people’s population, agriculture, and biosphere. There were, however, noteworthy, beneficial consequences of the Columbian Exchange on the Americas. Numerous livestock species were introduced…

Words 887 - Pages 4

Columbian: Smallpox and Columbian Exchange Essay

The Columbian Exchange era begin in 1492 when Christopher Columbus settled to the new land which was later called America. America’s resources are the reason for the success that Europe had from the Columbian Exchange. Studied by historian Alfred Crosby, this was a process in which the animals, plants, and bacteria life mixed in the New Worlds. It was a time of cultural exchanges between the New World and the Old World. In this time, many people were making discoveries that would affect the Worlds…

Words 532 - Pages 3

Effects Of The Columbian Exchange

The Columbian Exchange was the interchange of ideas and trading goods by sea between the New and the Old worlds or the American and European cultures. The Columbian Exchange brought about a new way of life for the Europeans and the Native Americans and it impacted their life greatly. With the joining of these two different worlds many different aspects of life were affected. It affected many things like agriculture, the health of the people from diseases, livestock, education and advancement in technology…

Words 570 - Pages 3

Disease In The Columbian Exchange

Disease and epidemics have challenged the human population for millennia. How has disease in the Columbian Exchange affected the Americas? The question is not if disease was transferred from Europe to the Americas, but rather, what were the effects of those diseases on the Americas. “When the isolation of the New World was broken, when Columbus brought two halves of this planet together, the American Indian met for the first time his most hideous enemy: not the white man nor his black servant, but…

Words 1189 - Pages 5

Causes Of The Columbian Exchange

Columbian Exchange Hindered Or Aided Society? The Columbian exchange, which were various routes that allowed for the trade of items such as plants and animals, impacted the modern world of 1492. However, this also enabled diseases to spread around the world. Some people thought the Columbian exchange was bad because of that risk. But the Columbian exchange aided the development of society around the world because it increased trade, made Europe rich, and people made money. One reason why the Columbian…

Words 694 - Pages 3

What Is The Columbian Exchange

The Columbian Exchange was an extensive period of trading and giving that impacted people’s lives for the better and as well for the worse. The term is used to describe the enormous widespread exchange of agricultural goods and communicable diseases between the Eastern and Western Hemispheres that occurred after 1492. In this year, Christopher Columbus's voyage of discovery launched an era of large-scale contact and relationships between the Old and the New World that resulted in this extraordinary…

Words 1301 - Pages 6

Essay On The Columbian Exchange

In class we learned about the impact of the Columbian Exchange. The Columbian Exchange refers to a period of cultural and biological exchanges between the New and Old Worlds. There were exchanges of plants, animals, diseases and technology transformed European and Native American ways of life. This between 1450-1750 AD. The result of the Colombian Exchange was an overall negative event for the New world because it spread disease to the Europeans and Indians, it created a slave trade in America, and…

Words 744 - Pages 3