Columbian Trade Research Paper

The Columbian Exchange is one of the greatest exchanges in foods, animals, plants and diseases between Europe and the Americas. In 1492 Christopher Columbus came to America. He saw things he had never seen before so then he decided to take some of them with him to Europe. He started trading routes to initiated an interchange of plants between Eastern and Western, as a result it doubled the resources of the food crop on both sides.

The Columbian Exchange has been called the “greatest human intervention in nature since the invention of agriculture” (Grennes 2007). The exchange of diseases, plants, and animals lead to a global cultural and economic shift throughout the Old and New Worlds following Christopher Columbus' 'discovery' of the Americas in 1492. The Eastern Hemisphere saw an influx of raw materials, new staple crops, and the income from and production of growing crops that were too resource intensive for Europe and Asia. The Western Hemisphere saw large scale population shifts, massive devastation accompanying colonization, and a significant change in the ecosystem with the introduction of new, sometimes invasive, plants and animals. This 'exchange' had one

One of the most interesting questions to ponder: is can a link be drawn directly to show the causation of why and when countries adopted customs or habits that are now fundamental in the present day. With secondary sources, these correlations can be shown and provide statistics as proof, based upon analysis of important primary sources. The journal article The Columbian Exchange: A History of Disease, Food and Ideas is a secondary source detailing what occurred in the years after the voyage of Columbus and how both the New World and the Old World were affected during this period of colonization. An interesting perspective was given in this paper, unlike many others that describe the same topic, in which the authors chose to focus on how the Old World was affected more so than what transpired in the areas being colonized. There was an extravagant biological exchange of both crops and disease, which provided serious lifestyle changes for both Europeans and the native people of the Americas, and there were also consequences elsewhere in the world associated with the Columbus exchange in the years after its commencement. Secondary sources are also very important to historians and this is a source that is very well written, backed up by diagrams and detailed evidence found in primary sources.

The Columbian Exchange is the exchange of plants, animals, food, and diseases between Europe and the Americas. In 1492, when Christopher Columbus came to America, he saw plants and animals he had never seen before so he took them back with him to Europe. Columbus began the trade routes which had never been established between Europe and the Americas so his voyages initiated the interchange of plants between the Eastern and Western Hemispheres, which doubled the food crop resources available to people on both sides of the Atlantic.

In the new world, Europeans encountered indigenous plant foods cultivated by Native Americas. These plants were potatoes, beans, corn, tobacco, and cocoa. The potato is especially important because it’s known for one of the main foods for Ireland. The European’s influenced oats and barley etc. Domesticated animals as pigs, chickens, sheep, and ox were also brought to the Americas. Horses were also brought to the new world which was a new tool for hunting and used for military.

The Columbian Exchange was a major milestone in the diffusion of the New and Old World. In 1492, Columbus arrived in the Bahamas(2), where he first came in contact with Native Americans. There, both exchanged their cultures such as crops, animals, metals, and germs, hence the name, Colombian Exchange. This has brought about both positive and negative effects. While some negative impacts are exemplified by the near-genocide of Amerindians, the demerits are outweighed by the benefits of this historical exchange, including the international diversity of ethnicity, and increased global population.

The Columbian Exchange is a huge exchange of goods and ideas between the old world and the new world. The old world is considered Europe, Asia and Africa and the new world is considered America. Their colonies started to trade with each other and that’s when they formed the Columbian Exchange. Many countries were involved in this trade, including China, Africa and Italy. The exchange of the new ideas, traditions, food, religion and diet changed cultures everywhere. The Natives gave and received many items. Even though Europeans and American Indians saw some similarities in each other, their words differed. The introduction of plants into the new world extended a process that had been taking place for centuries in the Old World. Trade

The Columbian Exchange is the movement of goods or products and people. It was introduced in the time of Columbus voyages. It put plants, animals and cultures together. Europe introduced technology, corn, tomatoes, potatoes, peanuts, tobacco and cotton. The Old world then introduced wheat, rice, sugarcane, horses, cattle, pigs and sheep. One downfall of this transaction was that Europeans brought with them germs.

In the 1500s, the Conquistadors came to the new world from Europe. After the Conquistadors came and conquered the new world many Native Americans fell ill with the diseases brought from Europe. After the Europeans entered the new world an estimated 15 to 20 million Native Americans died (doc 5). A majority of these deaths were due to the introduction of smallpox from Europe to the new world (doc 5). This is because the majority of the Native American population did not have the immunity to these diseases as the

This event during 1492 was a global diffusion of plants, animals, humans and diseases (Drame, Lecture notes). This system of mass immigration from and into Europe, Americas, Africa and Asia, resulting from explorations allowed for a diffusion of knowledge, language and culture as well. New foods were being produced in different places of the world such as potatoes in Ireland during 1840 and oranges in California. Wheat, cattle, pigs, sheep, goats, chickens, papayas, and pineapples were available in places of the world that had never seen these animals and food before. This global diffusion did have negative consequences such as contagious diseases including plague, smallpox, measles, whooping cough and influenza. However, overall, the Columbian exchange resulted in an increase in the world's population because of a greater availability of food as well as the discovery of antibiotics and vaccines. The discovery of different

Following the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus in 1492, a great amount of trade between America and Europe began to take place known as the Columbian Exchange. These widespread exchanges ranged anywhere from livestock and plants all the way to the exchange of human slaves. The Columbian Exchange was vital in introducing new crops to both the eastern and western hemispheres, which also led to an increase in population in both hemispheres. Without the introduction of the Columbian Exchange the population of the world would most definitely be at a much smaller number. Perhaps the most vital part of the Columbian Exchange was the fact that it brought horses to America, horses were crucial in the colonization of the nation.

The diseases that the European explorers brought over, and the effect they had on the Native Americans, were by far the worst parts of the Columbian Exchange. While some people may believe that war and mistreatment of the Natives were what caused 80-95% of them to perish, the actual cause was diseases like measles and small pox. According to Dinesh D’Souza, before the Europeans arrived, there was between 15 and 20 million Indians, but 150 years later, there was only a small amount left. In “The Crimes of Christopher Columbus”, D’Souza adds that since the Indians hadn’t seen those types of diseases before, they had not yet developed any resistance or immunity to them. The purpose of that statement is to explain why so many Indians were affected

The new world had acres of land to cultivate crops, raise cattle and farm. In many cases, the Old World crops were grown much more industriously in the New World soils and climates than in Europe (Nunn). For example, by 1680 the sugarcane production was predominantly produced by the new world . With the large increase of supply there was also a large increase in demand. Sugar became available to even the lower class. Overall, caloric intake increased throughout the world. New world foods were also brought to Europe such as the potatoes. Potatoes soon became a staple in European diet that when there was a shortage in Ireland hundreds of people died from starvation. Demand for new world foods and more supply of common food from the Americas, increased the health and economy of

Many years ago, there was a world drift that carried the Old and New Worlds apart, which made a split between the North and South. The separation lasted so long it caused the development of rattlesnakes on one side of the Atlantic and vipers on the other. After 1492, human voyagers had their artificial establishment of connections through the Old and New World plants, animals, and bacteria, which was known as the Columbian Exchange. The exchange is the ecological events of the past millennium.The Columbian Exchange had a widespread exchange of animal, plants, culture including slaves, diseases, and ideas between the eastern and western hemispheres. The exchange was the most significant event concerning ecology, agriculture, and culture in history. The Europeans were the first who touched the shores of the Americas. Old World crops such as wheat, barley, rice, and turnips had not traveled west across the Atlantic. The New World crops such as maize, white potatoes, sweet potatoes, and manioc had not traveled east to Europe. Americas did not have horses, cattle, sheep, or goats, or animals of the Old World. The New World had no relations with the animals that were part of the Old World. The New World did not have the pathogens associated with the Old World’s populations of humans and creatures like chickens, cattle and mosquitoes. There were the germs that carried smallpox, measles, chickenpox, influenza and malaria.

Introduced to Europe in the mid 1500s, potatoes were able to strongly impact European lives. They originally grew in Peru but spread throughout South America and later in Europe. Potatoes were able to thrive in Ireland, Scandinavia, Germany, and Poland. Potatoes were able to feed many people and improve food supply. The potato was able to supply a steady amount of calories and nutrients which was able to provide a better life for people of the Old World. Potatoes quickly spread throughout Europe and became an important crop. Today people still use the potato for food and other uses such as making stamps and soothing headaches. When growing potatoes today, many diseases can occur. Some include early and late blight, potato scab, and bacterial ring rot.