Chapter 3-5: Effects of Global Contact

The Columbian Exchange

The Columbian Exchange, a phrase invented by historian Alfred Crosby, is used to title the exchange of non-native plants, animals, and diseases from Europe to the Americas, and from the Americas to Europe. This was started in 1492, when Columbus first came to America. The Columbian exchange might be the most important event in world history- it explains to us how Europe became the world's greatest power, how millions of Native Americans died thanks to foreign diseases, and how many of the plants and animals we consider to be "native" actually got here.

New Foods and Animals

In the Americas, Europeans found a variety of foods that were new to them, including tomatoes, pumpkins, peppers. They eagerly transported these to Europe. Two of these new foods, corn and potatoes, became important foods in the Old World. Easy to grow and store, potatoes helped feed Europe's rapidly growing population. Corn spread all across Europe and to Africa and Asia, becoming one of the world's most important cereal crops.

Europe also carried a wide variety of plants and animals to the Americas, including wheat and grapes from Europe and bananas and sugar cane from Africa and Asia. Cattle, pigs, goats, and chickens, unknown before the European encounter, joined the Native American diet. Horses and donkeys transported people and goods quickly. Horses also provided the nomadic peoples of western North America with a new, more effective way to hunt buffalo.

Global Population Explodes

The transfer of food crops from continent to continent took time. By the 1700s, however, corn, potatoes, manioc, beans, and tomatoes were contributing to population growth around the world. While other factors help account for the population explosion that began at this time, the dispersal of new food crops from the Americas was certainly a key cause.

The Columbian Exchange also sparked the migration of millions of people. Each year shiploads of European settlers sailed to the Americas, lured by the promise of a new life in a land of opportunities. Europeans also settled on the fringes of African and Asia, places made known to them because of exploration. In addition, the Atlantic slave trade brought millions of Africans to the Americas.

In some parts of the world, populations declined as a result of increased global contact. The transfer of European diseases, such as smallpox and measles, decimated many Native American populations. Other populations were wiped out as a result of conflicts.

Diseases that Spread from the Colombian Exchange

Along with many goods that were traded and traveled to and from each continent, there was some unwanted cargo that came with the trading. Many diseases from Europe and Africa came to the Americas that decimated the Native population. These diseases consisted of the following: amoebic dysentery, bubonic plague, chicken pox, cholera, common cold, diphtheria, influenza, leprosy, malaria, measles, mumps, scarlet fever, smallpox, typhoid, typhus, whooping cough, yaws, and yellow fever. These many diseases killed thousands of the native population, mostly in America where the natives there had the weakest immune system.

In present day Latin America smallpox was a sickness that killed nearly 90 percent of the population.

There was one hint of a New World disease appearing in the Old World called syphilis and out breaks of syphilis were recorded in Europe around the 1500's.

Effects of the Columbian Exchange

The Columbian Exchange effected the entire world with the amount of vast trading going on between countries. Prices rose on just about everything due to the large availability of everything. A commercial revolution was erupting. Many Europeans began using a form of economic system known as capitalism. Capitalism is where a European would take financial risks to make a profit. They would buy large vessels to trade over seas and bring the profits back. This process was risky because sailors would have to be alert for pirates and attacks. As a result of more wealth in countries, the importance of banks rose. This led to the use of loans and interest rates in the uses of banks. The Columbian Exchange was a huge turning point in the world's history exchanging far for than just objects and luxury goods, but also ethnicity's, religions, ideas, diseases, arts, and customs. The Columbian Exchange helped shaped our world and cultures into what is today, and helped lead the way in new advances and discoveries