What Is The Significance Of The Columbian Exchange

The Columbian Exchange alludes to the transfer of diseases, foods, crops among the New World and the Old World following the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492. . The period before the Columbian Exchange, there would be no oranges in Florida, no paprika in Hungary, and no cigarettes in France, without the Columbian Exchange all these supplies would not be in the countries they are now. The Europeans gained from the exchange in several ways. The discoveries of new metals are popular one. They also received many different types of goods and crops form the exchange. Unfortunately the Old and New World both received the disease each side obtained, devastating both of their populations. Culture was transferred among each of them opening their eyes to a whole new side of the world. When Columbus’ arrived to the New World (Caribbean) the culture, crops, animals, and diseases of each world began to mix.
Tomatoes, chili peppers, cacao, peanuts, and pineapples were the less calorie intensive foods that became the centerpiece in the Old World countries. Tobacco, was a New World crop, was became the substitute for currency. The exchanged allowed sugar and coffee, which were from the Old World, since the land was suited for those crops. Historian Alfred Crosby (1989, p. 666) describes the significance of the transfer of food crops between the between the continents, writing: “The coming together of the continents was a prerequisite for the population explosion of the past two centuries, and certainly played an important role in the Industrial Revolution. The transfer across the ocean of the staple food crops of the Old and New Worlds made possible the