Columbian Exchange

Columbian Exchange Essay The discovery of the New World in 1492 opened a new era that would later be called the Columbian Exchange. This exchange of plants, animals, diseases, and people between the Old and New Worlds brought substantial change to both regions that led to changes in their everyday lives. Europeans, Africans, and New World inhabitants alike felt the beneficial yet harmful effects of this intercontinental exchange such as Europe gaining healthier foods, Africa with its rise in slavery, and the New World’s population decrease. When Europeans stumbled upon the New World, a variety of new flora had been discovered and exported back to Europe for use. One of these was maize or Indian corn. Maize was vitally important in Europe mainly because it offered a rich diet to not only people but animals as well. It was also an alternative to wheat (Old World food) because maize grows quickly and in places wheat can’t. Potatoes were also another major caloric-rich food discovered by Spanish conquistadores in 1536 in Peru. This plain vegetable revolutionized agriculture in Europe and was essential to European diet which became an important food for the lower class. Potatoes were so important that in later years during the 1800s when a potato famine hit Ireland, thousands of people
When Europeans came the Americas they brought with them many types of diseases like small pox, measles, and the bubonic plague. And the Indigenous people were mostly vulnerable to these diseases because their immune systems did not recognize these microbes. As a result, more than fifty percent of the Native American population died during the 16th and 17th centuries.. Europeans also received their share of the diseases when European sailors returning from the New World brought back diseases like syphilis which they were unprotected