Columbian Exchange

The Columbian Exchange Nunn (2010) stated "is the exchange of diseases, ideas, food crops, and populations between the New World and the Old World following the voyage to the Americas by Christopher Columbus in 1492"(p. 163). Christopher Columbus along with ninety men and three vessels sailed westward on a journey to Asia instead landing in the Americas. As a result country's such as Spain explored more of that region "By 1550, The Spaniards had explored the coasts of North America as far north as Oregon in the west and Labrador in the east." (Brinkley, 2014, p. 9)

The Columbian Exchange had positive and negative results on the indigenous population of both the Western Hemisphere and Europe.

The Americas

The native populous of the Americas were decimated by the Europeans during the Columbian exchange both intentionally and unintentionally by war and the introduction of diseases which the indigenous people the "Indians" were not immune to. On the other hand, they benefited from the introduction of new crops to the region like sugar and bananas. The importation of cattle and horse for use as animal power for transportation and labor would change the lives of many people in the west along with the introduction and domestication of pigs and chickens. In addition to this the technology brought by the easterners that included iron tools and the wheel.

Many of the natives gradually came to speak Spanish or Portuguese, but they created a range of dialects fusing the European languages with elements of their own. (Brinkley, 2014, p. 15). The written alphabet was another Europeans import that was taught to Native Americans who had no formal written language. The Europeans knew that forming associations by way of treaties would be difficult. Europeans educated natives by teaching them to read and write.

The Europeans

The exchange was more beneficial to the Europeans, and the Spaniards who returned with gold, silver and exotic plants along with new diseases of their own. The arriving white people also learned from the natives new agricultural techniques appropriate to the demand of the new land. (Brinkley, 2014 p. 15) These methods were used for the profitability of plantations using forced labor. The tomato, which originated in South America approximately 1,000 years before the Spanish arrived in the Americas botanists say from an unidentified wild ancestor of the plant that made its way north and came to be cultivated in South and Central America (Smith, 1994, p. 17). The development of the trade market across the Atlantic increased the slave trade as well; more slaves were required to sustain the increasing demand for a labor force.

Conclusion

Although having devastating