What Caused The Columbian Exchange

Columbian Exchange

Throughout history, the world and its environment are constantly being impacted positively and negatively, forcing changes to occur. One major affect was the Columbian Exchange on the Americas and Europe. The Columbian Exchange was the transfer of peoples, animals, plants and diseases between the New and the Old Worlds. This resulted from the European invasions of the late 15th and early 16th centuries, opening the door between the two worlds. Even though they will be affected differently, many of their actions will be approached in the same way. The Columbian Exchange will help civilizations become more technologically advanced and help people to spread more ideas making Europe and the Americas stand out especially
A death response had occurred because of the arrival of Europeans, and a series of diseases that killed. Unknowingly, they had brought measles, mumps, chickenpox, typhus, and other diseases with them while trading goods.The Europeans were learning the profitability of the plantation system, relying of economic benefit using local forced labor. Unfortunately, the local people had no built-up natural immunity to these diseases yet. The Europeans were known for beginning to cross the Atlantic creating one of the largest voluntary migrations in world history. This lead to the three G’s; Gold, God, and Glory. Mercantilism was also an effect of this, which is buying more then you sell. The growth of trade markets completely changed the world. Also, voyages launched large-scale contact between Europe and the Americas. The overseas expansion also caused inflamed national rivalries in Europe causing conflict. In 1494 the Treaty of Tordesillas was signed (Spain vs. Portugal) dividing the newly discovered lands outside Europe between Portugal and Spain, hopefully putting an end to future fueds. Interactions with Native Americans led to sweeping cultural changes because of the different ways of living. Also because the Native Americans didn’t have the same immune systems and couldn’t fight the diseases. For exchange of goods, plants and animals were very important. However, the animals became developed in very different
The exchange of these plants and animals radically changed the diet and lifestyle of people in the Old and New World. The Americans offered maize (to China), which could produce more food per acre than its competitors except potatoes, but lacked certain amino acids and vitamins crucial for health. Also, required more water than wheat and other grains which would be a drawback for some civilizations. Potatoes were also very important because they could also produce more food per acre and they had almost four times the amount of rye. Offering a balanced nutrition that they could be eaten to the exclusion of almost all other foods. Considering grain had to be harvested and stored; potatoes could be left in the ground all winter and be dug up as needed. This meant it wouldn’t be that difficult to create a surplus of this crop for the people. They also had sugarcane, which was very important, imported from the staples of the plantations of the Caribbean, Central American and the reason for slavery. Plants such as wheat, olives, chickpeas, bananas and much more came from the Old World. For the introduction of animals, by the 1700s, 50 million wild horses and cattle roamed southern America, northern Mexico and the South west US. Many destroyed Amerindian farm settlements and raised environmental threats, however, wild cattle did provide people with meat and hides. The most striking affect on the cultures of the Amerindians