There were many consequences of the discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus both good and bad but in the end the evidence leans toward the good outweighing the bad overall in the effects that Columbus’ journey and discovery had on the world both old and new. Some of the beneficial consequences, which were mostly one sided in the direction of the Europeans, that happened because of the discovery were the “Columbian exchange” of agricultural produce and animal stocks, the massive increase in wealth in the atlantic nations such as Portugal, Spain, England, and France that were able to participate in the wealth the New World had to offer. Some of the negative consequences that happened because of the discovery include the nearly complete
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In the direction of Europe the most important new resources were mostly agricultural in nature with potatoes, tobacco, and cotton being the most important of these. The arrival of beans and the potato could be argued to be one of the most important contributions to the population explosion in Europe from year 1500 and for the next 300 years. Backman writes in the textbook “Beans and potatoes, however, made radical changes in the European diet. Their high yields made them popular, not as market crops but as staples of the peasant’s own diets, not the most satisfying of diets, but infinitely preferable to famine.” (Backman p 523) Tobacco was another important crop that was imported to Europe from the Americas. The great wealth that could be earned from exporting tobacco back to europe encourage many Europeans to immigrate to the Americas, encouraging the permanent settlement of the land and pushing the natives further and further into less desirable locations. The health epidemic from the use of tobacco was another less desirable consequence of the Columbian Exchange that was discovered in later …show more content…
The whole region, once teeming with human beings, is now deserted over a distance of more than two thousand leagues: a distance, that is, greater than the journey from Seville to Jerusalem and back again” (Bartolomé De Las Casas 1552, p206, sources book) This quote showing how utterly depopulated the population of the Americas had become presented a problem to the Europeans who were looking to exploit the land even more than their plundering of the gold and silver mines had been. The Europeans looking to set up cotton, sugarcane, and tobacco plantations, which were particularly labor intensive needed a new source of labor, with the wiped out native population not being sufficient. That brings us to Africa the third continent of people that experienced the consequences sometimes horrific of the discovery of America by Columbus. Africans were brought over by slave ship by the millions to work on the European plantations preparing the crops to be exported back to Europe. The slave trade had a profound effect on the future demographics of the New World with some countries such as Haiti being almost completely African in origin overtime with all the natives wiped out by disease and overwork. African were dying at rates
In the direction of Europe the most important new resources were mostly agricultural in nature with potatoes, tobacco, and cotton being the most important of these. The arrival of beans and the potato could be argued to be one of the most important contributions to the population explosion in Europe from year 1500 and for the next 300 years. Backman writes in the textbook “Beans and potatoes, however, made radical changes in the European diet. Their high yields made them popular, not as market crops but as staples of the peasant’s own diets, not the most satisfying of diets, but infinitely preferable to famine.” (Backman p 523) Tobacco was another important crop that was imported to Europe from the Americas. The great wealth that could be earned from exporting tobacco back to europe encourage many Europeans to immigrate to the Americas, encouraging the permanent settlement of the land and pushing the natives further and further into less desirable locations. The health epidemic from the use of tobacco was another less desirable consequence of the Columbian Exchange that was discovered in later …show more content…
The whole region, once teeming with human beings, is now deserted over a distance of more than two thousand leagues: a distance, that is, greater than the journey from Seville to Jerusalem and back again” (Bartolomé De Las Casas 1552, p206, sources book) This quote showing how utterly depopulated the population of the Americas had become presented a problem to the Europeans who were looking to exploit the land even more than their plundering of the gold and silver mines had been. The Europeans looking to set up cotton, sugarcane, and tobacco plantations, which were particularly labor intensive needed a new source of labor, with the wiped out native population not being sufficient. That brings us to Africa the third continent of people that experienced the consequences sometimes horrific of the discovery of America by Columbus. Africans were brought over by slave ship by the millions to work on the European plantations preparing the crops to be exported back to Europe. The slave trade had a profound effect on the future demographics of the New World with some countries such as Haiti being almost completely African in origin overtime with all the natives wiped out by disease and overwork. African were dying at rates