Essay On The Columbian Exchange

The Columbian Exchange, also known as the Grand Exchange or Triangular Trade, is characterized as "A term for the global changes in the resources, habits, and values of Amerindians (American Indians/Native Americans), Europeans, Africans, and Asians that followed the “discovery” and settlement of the Americas by Europeans and Africans" (Adler and Pouwels G-4). Columbus's discovery of the Americas in 1492 sparked a new avenue of trade. "The term was coined by Alfred W. Crosby in his book The Columbian Exchange published in 1972" (Anirudh). The Columbian Exchange started when Europeans brought over plants, animals, and even diseases with them as they traveled the Atlantic Ocean. Those exchanges changed the lives of many people and the shape of landscapes on both sides of the ocean. The exchanges between the Old World (Europe) and the New World (the Americas) eventually became known as the Columbian Exchange. …show more content…
Now, new crops are being added to the European, Asian, and African diets (Adler and Pouwels 317). Unknowing to the farmers, they did not know they were buying the labor of African slaves. These slaves were also carrying diseases in their bloodstream. Attacks of fever caused by malaria infested parasites takes hold of North America (Grolle). The trading of slaves from the Old to New World was now known as the Atlantic Slave Trade. "From 1500 to 1880 about 12 million African slaves were transported to the Americas against their will. Such were the conditions that about 15% of them died during the journey"