Native Americans In The Columbian Exchange

The Columbian Exchange was an example of the global transport of goods, foods, culture, and diseases among Europe, the Americas, and Africa. This transference had immense effects on all participating regions, not limited to demographic, population, cultural, and environmental shifts. This highlighted the successes and faults of these regions and allowed for others to see the global positioning of the regions involved due to their role in the Columbian Exchange. The Columbian Exchange began with the colonization and conquering of the Americas initially by the crowns of Portugal and Spain. Portugal started the slave trade in 1434 with West Africa which welcomed them into a more global economy. Organized around kinships, African leaders provided …show more content…
They were the reason that trans-regional connection made a leap in the fifteenth centuries and beyond. Native Americans at the time of the exchange’s inception were being ushered into the life of servitude and slavery by European hands. Because of the bountiful natural resources and conditions, Europeans desired American lands and saw the native populations as a means of producing goods to give them economic footing in the global economy. These goods, which were not limited to minerals, hides, livestock and various raw foods were then dispersed to their mother country and beyond to African and Asian empires and regions. The contraction of disease was a huge element in Native American culture. Epidemics slaughtered native populations because they had never been exposed to outside conditions, combined with European brutality, they had become slaves. Even though Native Americans didn’t industrialize and live in urban environments, the labor was intense they worked under horrible conditions. Due to this, the lives of the Native Americans were short, this further spurred the slave trade in Africa, which therefore led to the continued production of goods. The cycles never …show more content…
While they play the fundamental role in the exchange, this exchange was unique in that it enveloped so many regions. For instance, Asia had new access to corn and other raw foods which sustained their populations and potatoes became a staple in European diets. Economically, the influx of silver and gold simultaneously ruined and offered new opportunities on a global level. Spain was bankrupted, but there was new wealth in the Americas to as far as China. The Columbian Exchange redefined the world, the playing field was changed and would from that point on define a new global