Columbian Exchange Essay

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In 1492, Christopher Columbus set his voyage to America where he discovered new things. Christopher Columbus began the trade routes between Europe and America that has never been established before during that time. This would be known as the Columbian Exchange. The Columbian exchange was an exchange of goods and ideas between the old world (Europe, Asia, Africa) and new world (America). The exchange consisted of plants, animals, culture, diseases, and slaves. During this time people were making discoveries that would affect the world in a positive and in negative ways.
The exchange had a significant impact between the two worlds by changing the way of life between the new and old world.

The exchanges between crops and animals had a great impact for both the old and new world. Europe brought cash crops and animals to America and America brought new crops and animals back to Europe. Some of the animals of Europe consisted of horses, pigs, cattle, and sheep. The crops from Europe consisted of rice, wheat, onion, peaches, pears, and coffee. America contributed by exchanging turkeys, llama, peanuts, potatoes, squash, tomatoes, and Maize (corn). These foods helped significantly improve and nourish the diet of the European people and African as well. Not only did it improve the diet of the people it also helped the ecological system and grow the population. The exchange of animals brought about whole new means of transportation, a new labor form, and a new food source. If it weren’t for the trades of foods and animals we probably wouldn’t have some of the food recipes we see today. Even though there were some positive outcomes, there were also negative affects during the exchanges.
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The environments of the world changed so drastically that the inhabitants of the worlds were affected (Crosby, 1972). Diseases were spread from one place to another during the trades. Europe spread diseases such as smallpox, measles, malaria, and whooping cough, to name a few. People would carry unknown diseases to the Americas. This caused devastation to the Native American people because there was no immunity against the diseases, which led to millions of deaths. America also contributed in the form of spreading syphilis to Europe. Today in modern times, modern issues still arise. The Florida everglades can relate and compare with Columbian exchange because of the impact that was left behind. Since the Columbian exchange of trading plants and animals, the Florida everglades has since had some issues with invasive flora and fauna. Flora meaning plants of a particular region, and fauna refers to animals. The invasions of such plants that are non-native to the everglades pose a threat to the natural native plants in the region, but not all are a problem. These plants are referred to being exotic. The invasions of these “exotic” plants are brought in from other areas outside the U.S. When other non-native plants are placed in the everglades it causes overcrowding, shade from tree leaves can kill off plants that need sunlight to survive, sometimes animals find it hard to get around. Plants and trees are essential in environment because they supply oxygen to the air we breathe and medicine for us to heal, and the food we eat. Invasion of exotic animals that are

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