What Are The Effects Of The Columbian Exchange

Spanish and Portuguese expeditions into South America, Africa, and the Caribbean facilitated imperial conquests by other European countries or kingdoms during the middle of the 16th century.

The colonization of Roanoke Island, north of Spanish Florida, by Englishman Walter Raleigh in 1585 intended to solidify English claims to Virginia but was unsuccessful and is infamously known dur the mysterious disappearance of the colonists. However, it ultimately led the English Virginia Company to fund an expedition to Chesapeake Bay in 1606 that was not sponsored by the crown. The initial intent was not to permanently settle but import goods to the European economy and acquire profits. Nonetheless, the English attempted to conquer bothersome indigenous

peoples, as they observed these tactics with the Spanish Model to the south. A tentative balance followed in the next few decades between the indigenous peoples and colonists that was ultimately shattered by biological, environmental, and demographic factors.

The Columbian Exchange, which fundamentally changed human history and the earth’s history of ecology, was the result of the global economy developing during the 1500s.

However, this term may be slightly inaccurate as this exchange began to much reach farther than Columbus and other explores of that his generation. The Columbian Exchange facilitated the movement of peoples, plants, animals, and diseases. However, the Columbian Exchange also disseminated ecosystems such as in the Atlantic and Pacific islands, and south-western North America and Central America. The former was suffered extinction of indigenous animals as a result of the introduction to pigs and dogs, the latter was stripped of vegetation due to of widespread ranching efforts. The pre-Columbian population of the Americas was devastated by up to 90 percent through diseases such as small pox, plague, malaria, and typhoid. Additional, syphilis was believed to be introduced to Europe from the Americas. The diet of local populations drastically changed, for example the potato, a staple in a European diet, is indigenous to America along with tomatoes, chili peppers, pineapples, cocoa, and tobacco which are all now fundamental components of cuisine throughout the

world.

With the expansion into the Americas and the subsequent formation of plantations, a labor force was needed. Due to disease disseminating Native Americans, and the unsuccessful attempts of indentured servitude on plantations in tropical climates, colonists had to turn elsewhere for this labor, Africa. In the first two centuries after Columbus’ initial expedition, only 1.5 million Europeans immigrated to America versus the 7.5 million of African slaves whom perished in plantations. One of the most sought-after commodities at the time from the Americas was sugar, which became the centerpiece of the “triangular trade” between Africa, Europe, and the Americas which was dependent on slavery. One such example of the triangular trade is the exchange of a shipment African slaves in the Caribbean for molasses which was in turn transported to Europe to make rum, this rum was then used to acquire slaves in Africa. This slave trade was not simply the result of governments, but rather it was supported by the lives of everyday people spanning the world.