70 POINTS! I need help writing a 4 paragraph essay
The Columbian Exchange refers to 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. The Old World—by which we mean not just Europe, but the entire Eastern Hemisphere—gained from the Columbian Exchange in a number of ways. Discoveries of new supplies of metals are perhaps the best known. But the Old World also gained new staple crops, such as potatoes, sweet potatoes, maize, and cassava. Less calorie-intensive foods, such as tomatoes, chili peppers, cacao, peanuts, and pineapples were also introduced, and are now culinary centerpieces in many Old World countries, namely Italy, Greece, and other Mediterranean countries (tomatoes, India and Korea (chili peppers), Hungary (paprika, made from chili peppers), and Malaysia and Thailand (chili peppers, peanuts, and pineapples). Tobacco, another New World crop, was so universally adopted that it came to be used as a substitute for currency in many parts of the world. The exchange also drastically increased the availability of many Old World crops, such as sugar and coffee, which were particularly well-suited for the soils of the New World.
The exchange not only brought gains, but also losses. European contact enabled the transmission of diseases to previously isolated communities, which caused devastation far exceeding that of even the Black Death in fourteenth-century. Europeans brought deadly viruses and bacteria, such as smallpox, measles, typhus, and cholera, for which Native Americans had no immunity (Denevan, 1976). On their return home, European sailors brought syphilis to Europe. Although less deadly, the disease was known to have caused great social disruption throughout the Old World (Sherman, 2007).”
(Nunn, Qian 2010)
After Christopher Columbus returned from his first voyage to the Caribbean in 1493, a phenomenon known as the Columbian Exchange would soon begin.
The Columbian Exchange was the exchanging of goods, ideas, and resources between the Old World and the New World in the decades following Columbus’s expedition.
The Old and New Worlds referred to the hemispheres of the globe, with the "Old" being the Eastern Hemisphere (present-day Europe, Africa, and Asia) and the "New" being the Western Hemisphere (the Americas). This period of exchange was most notable in the 1500s and 1600s.
The impact it had on the two hemispheres was both positive and negative. People were introduced to new foods, ways of life, and different elements of culture. However, the Columbian Exchange also exposed people to diseases that their bodies had never encountered and therefore could not fight off.
In terms of animals, the Old World contributed livestock such as cows, sheep, pigs, and horses. These animals thrived on the vast, grassy plains of North America, and introduced Native Americans to new protein sources through the animal meat. Additionally, they were able to use animal hides for clothing and shelter. Horses, in particular, proved exceptionally useful to the Native Americans for hunting and travel. From the New World and Western Hemisphere came turkeys and llamas.
By way of crops, the Old World introduced the Western Hemisphere to bananas, grapes, oranges, peaches, grains, and olives. They also contributed luxuries such as honey, sugar, and coffee.
The New World introduced the Eastern Hemisphere to vanilla, tobacco, beans, cacao (which can be harvested to make chocolate), pumpkins, corn, tomatoes, potatoes, pepper, avocados, and peanuts. Corn has been of notable importance, as it is a crop that is very resistant to drought, making it easy to grow in the arid climates throughout Africa.
An unfortunate component of this worldwide exchange was indeed the spreading of new germs and diseases from the Old World to the New World. From the Eastern Hemisphere, explorers brought illnesses such as smallpox and malaria. Native Americans who were living in the Western Hemisphere had never been exposed to these diseases, and thus their bodies had built up no immunities to them. Consequently, millions of native peoples perished.
Was the Columbian Exchange ultimately a good thing for the world or a bad thing?
(be sure to write 4 paragraphs)
