The Impacts Of The Columbian Exchange

Modern society depicts the diversity of cultures that were influenced by the Columbian Exchange. Would the world be the same way if it had never occurred? In 1492, Christopher Columbus, Spanish explorer send by Queen Isabella to open new trade routes into Asia, accidentally took a wrong route and ended up in an unknown world occupied by Native Americans. Because of this marvelous encounter, he was able to spark one of the most revolutionary event that changed and continue to currently change the world. The Columbian Exchange, just like its name, is the exchange of merchandises/ goods between the New World and Europe which started by Columbus. His intent was to extract as much of the wealth he encountered as personal profit and also benefit …show more content…
In a historical standpoint, the event resembles every other trade encounters that ever occurred since the paleontological days. The reason why it holds so much importance, was how effective it was executed and the distance between the two lands. Upon the arrival of Columbus, the New World inhabited powerful tribes of people by the names of Incas, Aztecs, Mayans etc. Just like the European countries, each tribe occupied a certain piece of confined land and also traded with one another, even evidence of Pacific trades was occurring prior to the arrival of Columbus. Multiple claims of sweet potatoes trades originating from Polynesia to the Americas proving pre-European exchanges between the Native Americans and The East Indies. (Montenegro, 2008). At the time the Columbian Exchange began, the Europeans exploited the Native Americans with forced labor. With the help of modern weapons, unfamiliar battle tactics to the Indians and a fatal spread of unknown disease such as chicken pox, reduced the native population to a small fraction of what it once was. From that point on, a new item was necessary to be added to the trade