The Columbus Exchange

Throughout history there has been an ongoing argument of what really happened during the Christopher Columbus time period and the years leading up to this voyage to "the New World". People argue if the land was untouched and if it was not, were the people who were already occupying it uncivilized or was that just the thoughts and interpretations of the new settlers, and most importantly, who really deserved the credit of the New World's success. Two sources that argue the traditional thoughts portrayed in history books. These two sources are one a National Geographic movie called "America before Columbus," and Alan Brinkley's Unfinished Nation: A Concise History of the American People. So what do these two sources say about what really happened?
the potatoes, at first it was brought to Italy but by 1600 they were one of the most important sources of nutrition for Italy, France, England, Germany, Austria, and Ireland, Ireland being one population that nearly doubled over 100 years due to this one vegetable. But all over Europe potatoes had populations exploding. The only animal taken back to Europe was the turkey. But Europe wanted more, they wanted sugar and tobacco from the Americas, so a British man started to make these goods in the Americas and sent them to Europe. So were the historians right when they said the land was untouched, or that the native Americans were uncivilized and savages, or that the Europeans deserved the credit of the success in the “New World”? According to the stories told by National Geographic’s film, "America before Columbus," and Alan Brinkley's Unfinished Nation: A Concise History of the American People, the historians were wrong in more way than one. The land was managed for centuries before the Europeans or Spanish even decided to go, it was managed by natives that although led a very different lifestyle were nowhere near uncivilized, and without the hard work of those people with the land first, maybe a lot of things the Europeans got credit for would not have worked out the way they
I think after reading Brinkley’s view and watching the America before Columbus video I have more of a background and can now make my own decision of which side of this argument I would take, I would stand by the natives in that the land was already claimed by people who were not savages but people who led a simpler life. And that all the credit should not go to the Europeans as they took what the natives had already done and used it to their