The Columbian Trade: Introduction
The global transfer of technology, plants, disease, and animals during the colonization of the Americas is known as the Columbian Exchange. Ships from the Americas brought back a wide arrange of items and goods that many Europeans, Asians, and African had never seen before. These goods included plants such as tomatoes, squash, pineapples, tobacco, and cacao beans for chocolate. These items transformed European and Native American ways of life. Some of the most important goods traded across the globe was the potato and corn because they were inexpensive to grow and had a lot of good nutrition for the poorer classes. These new foods helped people live longer as they had the vitamins and minerals and in the long run enabled populations to grow in size (Roger B. Beck). Right after Columbus' discovery in 1492 the exchange of items and disease lasted throughout the years of expansion and discovery. The Columbian Exchange helped impact the social and cultural life on both sides of the Atlantic ocean: Europe and the Americas. There was also an advancement in agricultural production, evolution of warfare, increased mortality rates and education and these advancements had an effect of the Columbian Exchange between different empire throughout the world (Mcneill, J.R.).
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The Trade of Corn, Potatoes, and Disease
Disease:
The Columbian exchange sadly brought and helped spread disease as people from all over traveled to new lands. One of the areas that suffered the worst were the Americas as the natives did not have an immune system that would be able to fight off the European diseases. This caused much suffering among the natives and they easily fell to European travelers as they came and colonized the New World. The flow of disease also traveled eastward to Eurasia and Africa as well (Mcneill, J.R) Some of the diseases traded from the Old to New world included small pox, influenza, Malaria, and Typhus which caused many casualties throughout the globe. Millions of natives died because of disease traded among empires, but it also helped Cortes conquer the Aztecs as well as Pizarro take over the Inca. Disease has played an important role throughout history as it has created terror but also helped other people triumph (Beck, Roger B.)
Potatoes:
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Corn:
Corn was originally cultivated in Mexico by 3500 B.C. and it spread throughout the Americas. By 1492 Christopher Columbus introduced corn to Europe. Like potatoes, corn's enormous production allowed for more grain to be grown per acre also enabling populations to increase in size. To keep the new population healthy, corn required regular rainfall for ideal growth. The perfect spot was found to be in Africa after exploring the Americas. Corn grew in east Africa easily as there was regular rainfall and it quickly was adopted in 1561. The semi-arid climates of the Mediterranean and the Middle East did not prove to be the ideal spot for growing corn. There was rainy seasons followed by drought, which resulted in corn not faring well in this area of the globe. Therefore, it had little effect on those cultures in southern Europe. It did however impact the Americas, Africa, and China in the 1550's ("The Great Exchange"). |