The Importance of the Columbian Exchange

Christopher Columbus’ Voyages and the Columbian Exchange

Christopher Columbus’ voyages opened opportunities for European colonization. Columbus started his exploration in 1492 when he came across America. The discovery sparked the Columbian Exchange that fostered trade between the Europeans and Americans.

The Impact of the Columbian Exchange

The Columbian Exchange involved the extensive trade of foods, ideas, plants, animals, and slaves between the Western and Eastern hemispheres. In particular, it resulted in trade links between Americans and Europeans where they exchanged different products. The Americans gained the most from it as compared to the Europeans. The Columbian Exchange marked a new beginning where countries obtained what they did not produce through trade. For example, new crops and animals were introduced in different places, which provided enough food for the world population. In short, the Columbian Exchange transformed the lives of Americans, Africans, and Europeans (Khan Academy). However, its adverse effect was the spread of diseases that caused epidemic mostly in the overcrowded places such as in the plantations where slaves offered cheap labor.

New Foods and Animals

Animals and crops that some people had never seen before became their staple food. For example, potatoes were spread to different regions since they were only produced in South America. Europeans exported horses to the Americans, which changed the lives of many people living in the Great Plains. Some of the animals traded during the Columbian Exchange included cattle, camel, donkey, goat, fowl, sheep, rabbit, and pig. The plants included bananas, beans, garlic, barley, cabbage, coffee, cotton, tomato, potatoes, black pepper, citrus, lettuce, rice, sugarcane, wheat, onion, peach, oats, hemp, turnip, and pear (Lewis and Maslin).

Spread of Diseases and Cultural Ties

Furthermore, traders led to the spread of diseases such as sleeping sickness, typhoid, cholera, malaria, influenza, measles, smallpox, yellow fever, and tuberculosis. Additionally, various communities interacted during the exchange resulting in cultural ties. Consequently, it fostered peace and harmony among the traders.

Conclusion

To sum up, the Columbian Exchange opened opportunities for trade and colonization between the eastern and western regions. Multiple types of crops and animals were exchanged between different countries, which provided enough food for the world population. However, the trade resulted in transmission of various infectious diseases which led to many deaths.

Works Cited

Khan Academy. “The Columbian Exchange.” Arts and Humanities, n.d., https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/us-history/precontact-and-early-colonial-era/old-and-new-worlds-collide/a/the-columbian-exchange-ka. Accessed 4 Dec. 2018.

Lewis, Simon and Mark Maslin. ”How disease and conquest carved a new planetary landscape.” The Atlantic, 2018, https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/08/human-planet-migration-columbian-exchange/568423/. Accessed 4 Dec. 2018.