The Impact of The Columbian Exchange

Columbian Exchange: Winners and Losers

Columbian Exchange is an act through which people, diseases, and commodities crossed the Atlantic. As the Europeans extended their market reach, they came up with new economic policy to ensure profitability by trading with Americans. The winner of the Columbian Exchange was the Americans, and the losers were the Europeans (Grolle). Americans realized the value for the products they produced such as tobacco. On the other hand, Europeans were losers since they ended up trading their goods with commodities of less value due to their spiritual significance.

The Impact on Western Civilization

The Columbian Exchange significantly affected Western civilization. First, it opened new opportunities for the growth of wealth between the Americans and Europeans. Markets began competing with one another, which facilitated the improvement of products to meet customers’ needs. Leaders paid explorers to discover new regions so that they can colonize them. Additionally, the Columbian Exchange led to the spread of many diseases such as measles, smallpox, typhoid, tuberculosis, malaria, and yellow fever (Grolle). Overall, it marked the beginning of a trading relationship between the eastern and western regions.

The Significance of Colonization

In my opinion, the most significant impact of the Columbian Exchange is colonization. Explorers disguised themselves as traders and moved to new places. Since leaders of their respective countries supported them, they colonized weak territories so that they could benefit from the resources produced there (Grolle). As a result, countries such as Spain obtained raw materials from different places and manufactured finished products, which they traded with other nations.

Conclusion

To conclude, the Columbian Exchange enabled the western and eastern hemispheres to start trading products. Moreover, it caused colonization since rulers sent explorers to discover and colonize new territories. The Columbian Exchange contributed to the spread of numerous diseases between Europe and the United States of America.

Work Cited

Grolle, Johann. “The Columbian Exchange: How discovering the Americas transformed the world.” Spiegel Online, 2013, http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/a-923220.html. Accessed 4 Dec. 2018.