The Columbian Exchange

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The Columbian Exchange was the transfer of plants, animals, and diseases from the Old world to the New world, to the New World to the Old World and many other parts of the world. Although there was much exchange going on all over the world, in the following paragraphs I will be concentrating on the impacts throughout the Americas. The exchange resulted in major changes in history. The Americas was able to develop the way it has because of the imports that came from the exchange. The Columbian exchange made it possible for new societies and economies to form in the Americas. One of the major things passed in the Columbian exchange was the introduction of new diseases to the Americas. The People in the Americas had been isolated for some time, eliminating many disease. As a result, Natives did not have a strong immunity to new diseases. When sailors came to the Americas, they introduced diseases such as; small pox, measles, mumps, whooping cough, influenza, chicken pox, and typhus. Small pox, a disease originated from livestock, had the most devastating effect on the Native American population. It is estimated that small and the other diseases wiped out about 90 percent of the population. Although disease was exchanged to Eurasia and Africa as well, it did not have as much as a disastrous effect as disease in the Americas. Because the disease wiped out so much of the population, the Columbian exchange inadvertently changed many economic aspects of the Americas. There were labor shortages throughout the Americas which is one factor that contributes to the use of slaves later on. With the exchange, also came new crops. Columbus brought food grains commonly found in Europe because he wanted them to grow in the Americas as well. He brought wheat, barley, rye, and other food grains. These crops did not flourish well until later on, but became major crops in the

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