The Harmful Effects Of The Columbian Exchange

On August 3, 1492, Christopher Columbus departed from the shores of Palos, Spain and had initiated his voyage to the Americas. Although miscalculations resulting in the belief he had reached India were created, these miscalculations were not fruitless in the creation and foundation of the New World.
Due to the numerous cultural and biological exchanges being conducted during the 15th and 16th centuries after many of Columbus’s extensive voyages, this way of interaction was soon referred to as the Columbian Exchange. The effects of the Columbian Exchange resulted in beneficial rewards such as more variety of crops being grown, the introduction of animals to other continents, an improvement in technology, as well as detrimental consequences such as the rapidly increasing spread of diseases.
Although the Columbian Exchange was not necessarily positive in its entirety, considering the advantages obtained during
According to Kenneth Auchincloss, author of the excerpt, “When Worlds Collide”, “What drove Columbus westward was not just a search for a lucrative new trade route to Asia. It is too simplistic to picture him and the other European explorers as mere money-grubbers, early real-estate developers who lucked into an entire continent to subdivide.” Although monetary gains were a great part of the voyage to the Americas, what mostly aided in the Europeans’ travel to the Americas were their relentless tendency to explore. They saw this extensive voyage as a voyage to the unknown, because, as it is written in “When Worlds Collide”, “The voyage into the unknown...had been part of European culture since the days of Odysseus.’ Because of the European’s desire and curiosity to explore what they deemed as “the unknown”, the result granted was a deeper understanding of nations outside of their general