For its part the New World provided a host of sustaining crops that could be cultivated in Europe, such as potatoes, maize (corn), tomatoes, squashes, and varieties of beans; foods that appealed to European tastes, such as cacao (chocolate), avocados, and chilies; and other products that served a growing demand, such as tobacco, indigo, and cotton. Few New World animals of consequence migrated to Europe during this period, but possibly the venereal disease syphilis first reached Europe from the Americas. Before and since the publication of Crosby’s work, students of European expansion have not neglected his factors but have also pointed to the interregional migration of people and their cultures and metals (iron from Europe and silver and gold from the Americas). The student must discuss the impact of the Columbian exchange on the population and economies of Europe. For example, this might include the effects of transferred food crops on diet and population growth in Europe, potatoes and corn as factors in the agricultural revolution, the economic effect of cane sugar and tobacco production on European economies (e.g., wealth produced by the New World plantation systems for Europe, the stimulation that agriculture gave to international commerce and later industrialization, the need for large-scale labor for sugar
Africa contained a great number of natural rescources valuable to Europe such as: cotton, palm oil, rubber, ivory, gum, peanuts, bananas, coffee, cocoa, zinc, lead, coal, and copper. These valuable raw materials were used to create products that Europe could export and trade for a huge profit. These products included: fabrics, soaps, candles, tires, drugs, food products, electrical wiring, electrical insulation, rope and twine, jewelry, and many others. The invasion of Africa yielded many valuable economic advancements, and created a logical reason for Europe to invade. European imperialism in Africa was partly due to rivalries between the different European countries involved, with Britain, Germany and France the dominant powers.
Some examples of plants will be peanuts, tomato, tobacco, chili peppers, and cassava. With this new trade route, Europe was able to connect the two areas, which circulated a wide variety of new crops and livestock, which supported increases in population in both hemispheres. Christopher Columbus didn't stop there, he helped advance Europe into a new age. With the Columbian exchange discovered, it applied a big impact on Europe. It supported Europe immensely advancing itself, it was a complete accident, but none the less, it helped Europe.
The Columbian Exchange The Columbian Exchange created different impacts on the populations in the old and new world. The Columbian Exchange was the global diffusion of plants, food crops animals, human populations, and disease pathogens that took place after the voyages of exploration by Christopher Columbus and other European mariners. (Jerry H. Bentley, 2010) With the Columbian Exchange involving lands with different flora, fauna, and diseases. With the various species in the different hemispheres being evolved around separate lines, the European voyages permanently altered the world’s human geography and natural environment. Between the Americas and the Pacific islands, small pox, but measles, diphtheria, whooping cough, and influenza took heavy tolls on many people.
The Columbian Exchange Between 1492 and 1750, there were many drastic demographic and environmental effects of the Columbian Exchange on the Americas and Europe. The bringing of new diseases impacted both of these regions influencing their populations, affecting the Americas more when smallpox was brought by the European explorers. Also demographically was the establishment of silver mines and sugar plantations causing new labor systems directed by the Europeans. Agricultural goods also had a lasting impact with the Americas being introduced to sugar and domesticated animals as well as Europe being introduced to new crops with the Columbian Exchange. With the trading of the Columbian Exchange, diseases were increasing and affecting both the Americas and Europe.
The Columbian Exchange was the widespread exchange of animals, plants, culture, human populations, communicable diseases, technology and ideas between the American and Afro-Eurasian hemispheres following the voyage to the Americas by Christopher Columbus in 1492, colonization and trade by Europeans in the Americas, and institution of the slave trade in Africa and the Americas. [1]:163 The term was coined in 1972 by Alfred W. Crosby, a historian at the Eastern Maine Community College, in his eponymous work of environmental history. [2][3]:27 The contact between the two areas circulated a wide variety of new crops and livestock, which supported increases in population in both hemispheres. Explorers returned to Europe with maize, potatoes, and tomatoes, which became very important crops in Europe by the 18th century. Similarly, Europeans introduced manioc and peanut to tropical Asia and West Africa, where they flourished and supported growth in populations on soils that otherwise would not produce large yields.
The discovery of American silver and its subsequent influx into Europe and Asia had a significant impact on the growth of world trade, to the extent that it is accurate to say that the growth in trade at this time laid the foundations for a world economy. In the Early Modern Period there was a world market for silver, and "silver was a product produced for profit just like any other commodity." The discovery of silver in the Americas led to an increase in trade between the silver markets of the world. In particular, silver was widely used by Europeans to acquire goods from Asia. This increase in trade and the routes through which it was conducted, laid the foundations for a world economy.
Expansion affected the nation in many ways other than size. It also affected our country's population, culture, economy and social structure. America's economy was the first to experience the effects of Westward expansion. Most of the settlers that moved out west were planning on becoming farmers, if they were not already farmers. Along with new farmers came new products that the United States (US) could ship out to other countries as a profit.
However, not all groups were self-sufficient; they exchanged people, ideas, and goods. Key Concept 1.2: The Neolithic Revolution and Early Agricultural Societies In response to warming climates at the end of the last Ice Age, from about 10,000 years ago, some groups adapted to the environment in new ways, while others remained hunter-foragers. Settled agriculture appeared in several different parts of the world. The switch to agriculture created a more reliable, but not necessarily more diversified, food supply. Agriculturalists also had a massive impact on the environment through intensive cultivation of selected plants to the
Directions: Write a Free Response Essay answering the following questions: Analyze the effects of the Columbian exchange (the interchange of plants, animals, and diseases between the Old World and the New World) on the population and economy of Europe in the period 1550 to 1700 The arrival of Christopher Columbus in the Americas marked the meeting of the previous separate worlds, thus began the columbian exchange. When Christopher Columbus and his crew arrived in the Americas , The Bahamas, on October 1492 the two separate worlds were reunited. After Columbus arrived in Americas the animal, plant, and bacterial life in these two worlds began to mix together. By reuniting the two unknown worlds it had made dramatic and lasting effects on the world. The result of the new bacteria, animal, and plant life mixing caused devastating effects on the Americas and Europeans together.