What Is The Columbian Exchange

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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 system of good exchange: hence the name "Columbian" Exchange. This exchange period lasted from the fifteenth through the sixteenth centuries. This network of trade took place through the New World to the Old World and back, or also known as the …show more content…
Simple items brought over such as plants and vegetables brought along positive change for both worlds. The New World gave the Old World crops such as corn, potatoes, vanilla and chocolate to name a few. In the same manner, the Old World gave the New World crops such as wheat, coffee, and sugar. The culture and food of many Old World countries would be so different without the Columbian exchange. Prior to the Columbian Exchange in 1942, there was no chocolate in Switzerland, no potatoes in Ireland, no peppers in Spain, and no corn in all of Europe. What if Ireland never got potatoes or Italy never received tomatoes? What would these countries even have to eat? The Columbian exchange truly added tons of now vital crops and ingredients to these countries diets and cultural cuisine and dishes. This addition of crops and ingredients not only supplemented the present food regimen of many countries but is a staple for households and restaurants that benefits the economy greatly. Without the Columbian Exchange, many countries would not have these crops that they grow and sell still today, that is now a crucial selling part of the economy. Animals were also a positive effect of the …show more content…
Some were blatantly negative but did have their perks in some ways that did in fact benefit certain people or branches of the economy. People were shifted tremendously back and forth through continents and both worlds. On the positive side, the shiftment of people allowed for movement of families and young couples who wanted to come to the Americas for the promising “better life” here . This added to the heritage we as Americans have gathered from our ancestral lines from way back to roots of Europe, Asia and parts of the Old World. However many people brought over from parts of the Old World like Africa were used for horrible meanings such as work and slave labor. These people were forced into working for these businesses and families who for the most part did not treat them with almost any respect or integrity. And although slavery was a terrible way of treating humans, it did allow for faster production and cultivation for crops, farming, and many jobs overall. The exchange of people brought about many positive but negative effects as