As a result of Columbus's voyages to the New World, a biological pipeline between America and Europe opened up that had been apart since before humans appeared on earth. The lands had drifted apart that had once been connected. Some species of plants and animals flourished in both areas, and some did not. There were many new animals and plants in the Americas that Europeans had never seen. And, Europeans brought plants and animals to the New World that America had never seen. This includes viruses and other biological organisms. The new animals brought to America upset the ecology of the area. The people living in the Americas did not have resistance to many of the "germs" brought by the Europeans. Biologically, the Indians had not been exposed to measles, smallpox, whooping cough, chicken pox, and influenza. The effect of these diseases on the Americans was catastrophic. Bacteria and viruses killed more Native Americans than did Spanish swords. The Indians also gave to the Europeans, venereal disease. Medical historians disagree on the origins of syphilis, but it was first identified by physicians in 1493, in Cadiz, Spain, the port which Columbus returned to after his first voyage. The Colombian Exchange was also a cultural exchange. New agricultural developments were traded, economic activity and opportunities opened up between the New and Old Worlds, and new ideas were exchanged.
The exchange that Columbian did was horrible. It just about affected everyone with destructive diseases and depopulated many cultures.
On the other hand: Before the Columbian Exchange, there were no oranges in Florida, no bananas in Ecuador, no paprikain Hungary, no potatoes in Ireland, no coffee in Colombia, no pineapples in Hawaii, no rubber treesin Africa, no chili peppers in Thailand, no tomatoes in Italy, and no chocolate in Switzerland.
People say that the Columbian Exchange occurred but it really didn't benefit the people of the New World very much.
We usually describe this in purely economic terms, but it is also biological. Researchers increasingly think that the most important cargo on these early transoceanic voyages was not silk and tons of silver but plants and animals, many of them accidental stowaways.
But those homebound ships contained something else of equal importance: the Amazonian plant known today as tobacco.
Before Columbus, the parasites that cause malaria were rampant in Eurasia and Africa but unknown in the Americas. Transported in the bodies of sailors, malaria may have crossed the ocean as early as Columbus's second voyage. Yellow fever, malaria's frequent companion, soon followed.
The diseases of the Columbian Exchange made the enslaved worker "preferable at anything up to three times the price of the European servant."
Hunger was then a familiar presence in Europe. France had 40 nationwide food calamities between 1500 and 1800, more than one every decade, according to the French historian Braudel. England had still more. The continent simply could not sustain itself.
The potato from the New world allowed most of Europe—a 2,000-mile band between Ireland and the Ukraine—to feed itself.
But worse for the New World was the loss of 90 percent of the native population due to diseases that they never had seen before. There had been about 80 million and only around 720,000 were left. The land appeared to be empty.
From the Old World to the New World: pigs, horses, cattle, chickens, wheat, barley rye, slaves from Africa, smallpox, venereal disease except syphilis, malaria and yellow fever.
From the New World to Old World: tobacco, corn, tomatoes, and syphilis.
Agriculture, Diseases and Religion
Huge numbers of American native peoples died from European diseases.
The Americans got food that they couldn't grow, and goods that they didn't have already.
The good effect was it improved their health and diets. The bad effect was it was a wonderful "New World" to the Europeans, but not to the Native Americans.
Kaylin age 10
The Columbian exchange allowed the exchange of animals, resources and crops between the New and Old World.
it made them sad
Spread diseases
the introduction of smallpox
Diseases
Disease killed millions of Native AmericansThe Columbian Exchange (the transfer of plants, animals, diseases, etc. between the old and new worlds) had both positive and negative impacts. For the native people in the Americas, the cumulative effect was negative.One example is large groups of native peoples being wiped out by European diseases like smallpox.
As a result of Columbus's voyages to the New World, a biological pipeline between America and Europe opened up that had been apart since before humans appeared on earth. The lands had drifted apart that had once been connected. Some species of plants and animals flourished in both areas, and some did not. There were many new animals and plants in the Americas that Europeans had never seen. And, Europeans brought plants and animals to the New World that America had never seen. This includes viruses and other biological organisms. The new animals brought to America upset the ecology of the area. The people living in the Americas did not have resistance to many of the "germs" brought by the Europeans. Biologically, the Indians had not been exposed to measles, smallpox, whooping cough, chicken pox, and influenza. The effect of these diseases on the Americans was catastrophic. Bacteria and viruses killed more Native Americans than did Spanish swords. The Indians also gave to the Europeans, venereal disease. Medical historians disagree on the origins of syphilis, but it was first identified by physicians in 1493, in Cadiz, Spain, the port which Columbus returned to after his first voyage. The Colombian Exchange was also a cultural exchange. New agricultural developments were traded, economic activity and opportunities opened up between the New and Old Worlds, and new ideas were exchanged.
Brought new diseases back to England and existing diseases to the new land - causing large number of deaths due to the unprotected Native Americans' immune system not recognizing the illness and fighting it off.
the introduction of smallpox
Horses good, smallpox bad.
The Americans got food that they couldn't grow, and goods that they didn't have already.
the introduction of smallpox
Huge numbers of indigenous peoples were wiped out by European diseases.
Huge numbers of indigenous peoples were wiped out by European diseases.
The Americans got food that they couldn't grow, and goods that they didn't have already.
introduction of new foods to both Europe and the americasThere were exchange of diseases. The small pox came into the Americas from Europe and Syphilis came into Europe from the Americas....
Disease killed millions of Native AmericansThe Columbian Exchange (the transfer of plants, animals, diseases, etc. between the old and new worlds) had both positive and negative impacts. For the native people in the Americas, the cumulative effect was negative.One example is large groups of native peoples being wiped out by European diseases like smallpox.
Disease killed millions of Native AmericansThe Columbian Exchange (the transfer of plants, animals, diseases, etc. between the old and new worlds) had both positive and negative impacts. For the native people in the Americas, the cumulative effect was negative.One example is large groups of native peoples being wiped out by European diseases like smallpox.
Huge numbers of indigenous peoples were wiped out by European diseases.
Diseases