Columbian Exchange

The Columbian Exchange: Beneficial or Detrimental? The Columbian exchange was born from a single event that completely changed the course of the world. It was the exchange of plants, animals, people, foods, diseases, technologies, and ideas between the Old World and the New World. Three main groups of people were involved: the Europeans, the Native Americans, and the Africans. When the Europeans came to the New World, they brought diseases, crops, and livestock. The diseases included smallpox, influenza, malaria, measles, chickenpox, and yellow fever. These diseases struck the vulnerable Native Americans and killed ninety percent of them in the first century. These diseases destroyed Native American culture, empires, tribes, and families. The Europeans also started plantations in the New World. They made massive plantations that grew cash crops such as sugar, tobacco, and long-fiber cotton. These plantations needed a large work force to maintain. The Europeans found their work force by forcing the Native Americans to work on the plantations for them. As disease and harsh working conditions killed many of the Native Americans, Europeans had to search elsewhere to obtain enough slaves to maintain their plantations. The search for workers eventually led the Europeans to Africa. They transported Africans en masse to the New World to work on their plantation, thus beginning the slave trade. They transported about ten million Africans and tore apart countless African families. The Europeans both decimated the New World populations and repopulated them. They killed most of the Native American population and brought many Africans to the New World, thus completely changing the ethnic compositions of many countries. However, the Columbian exchange had some benefits. Some of the horses that the Europeans brought with them were tamed by Native Americans. These horses gave the Native Americans a huge advantage in both hunting and warfare. The Europeans benefited greatly from