How Did The Columbian Exchange Affect The Americans

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The Columbian Exchange had coinciding and deviating impacts on the Americas and Europe in the period 1492-1750. Intermixing of ethnicities due to slavery and the transport of obscure crops and animals, such as maize and pigs, were similar in both places. However, the shift in population of each area was consequently different due to foreign crops and remote epidemics like small pox. The Americas and Europe were parallel in their new possession of previously inaccessible crops and animals. America gained resources like barley, wheat, and rice from the Old World. Animals such as pigs, cattle, and horses were also brought to the Americas. These new resources provided more food and advances in the lives of the natives like the Incas and Aztecs. From the Americas, Europe now procured crops such as maize, peppers, and peanuts. The Americas and Europe are also comparable in their use of African slaves. Both of these areas imported slaves from Africa to use for specific tasks. The Americas used slaves for astringent agricultural labor such as …show more content…

Many Europeans brought diseases like small pox, measles, chicken pox, and influenza to the Americas by means of cattle. Because the natives of the Americas had never been exposed to cattle and other carrier animals, they had not developed immunity and were therefore infected and killed by the diseases. This caused a major plummet in population and also resulted in the need for African slaves, because the natives had previously been enslaved to Europeans living in the New World. Europe, in contrast to the Americas, experienced a large augmentation in population. This is because of the newly imported crops from the Americas. Specific crops were exceptionally important in certain areas of Europe like the potato in Ireland and the tomato in Italy. Because of this upsurge in population, many Europeans moved to the

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