Corn In The Columbian Exchange

The Columbian Exchange is one of our most significant events in the history of our world. It all started when Christopher Columbus returned to Spain in 1493 with plants and animals he had found in the New World. Columbus had sparked an era of global exploration that has changed the world to this day through the exchange of plants, animals, and disease. The most important item in the Columbian Exchange was corn. It is important because it was a staple crop in many colonies.
Through the Columbian Exchange the Europeans gained access of corn which greatly impacted their diet. Corn had spread all over the Old World to Europe, Asia, and Africa. Corn had become the world’s most important cereal crop. Corn significantly improved the European’s diet on a nutritional level. The nutritional value from corn increased the European’s lifespan and improved their livestock’s health therefore offering more and better quality meat. With more vitamins in the European diet, the average European was becoming healthier, taller, stronger, and more resistant to disease. …show more content…
Corn served as an alternative to rice and wheat to the European’s diet. Since corn was so flexible it could be grown in areas too wet for wheat and too dry for rice. Europeans could grow corn more efficiently than wheat or rice. If a farmer had one acre of wheat they could harvest 500 pounds but with corn they could harvest 1,800 pounds of corn. The European farmers weren’t accustomed to so much food. The average European could eat more since food prices had dropped because farmers were able to use their land more productively and produce more