columbian exchange essay examples

History & Society
Science & Tech
Biographies
Animals & Nature
Geography & Travel
Arts & Culture
Games & Quizzes
On This Day
One Good Fact
New Articles
Lifestyles & Social Issues
Philosophy & Religion
Politics, Law & Government
World History
Health & Medicine
Browse Biographies
Birds, Reptiles & Other Vertebrates
Bugs, Mollusks & Other Invertebrates
Environment
Fossils & Geologic Time
Entertainment & Pop Culture
Sports & Recreation
Visual Arts
Demystified
Image Galleries
Infographics
Top Questions
Britannica Kids
Saving Earth
Space Next 50
Student Center
Introduction

What are the basic functional systems of animals?

Columbian Exchange

Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.

Scholars at Harvard - The Columbian Exchange: A History of Disease, Food, and Ideas
Bill of Rights Institute - Columbian Exchange
BCcampus Open Publishing - The Columbian Exchange
Khan Academy - The Columbian Exchange
The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History - The Columbian Exchange
World History Encyclopedia - Columbian Exchange
Humanities LibreTexts - The Impact of "Discovery" - The Columbian Exchange
BCcampus Open Publishing - Canadian History: Pre-Confederation - The Columbian Exchange
National Humanities Center - The Columbian Exchange: Plants, Animals, and Disease between the Old and New Worlds
National Center for Biotechnology Information - PubMed Central - The roots of the Columbian Exchange: an entanglement and network approach to early Caribbean encounter transactions
NCpedia - The Columbian Exchange
Columbian Exchange - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)
Table Of Contents

Columbian Exchange , the largest part of a more general process of biological globalization that followed the transoceanic voyaging of the 15th and 16th centuries. Ecological provinces that had been torn apart by continental drift millions of years ago were suddenly reunited by oceanic shipping , particularly in the wake of Christopher Columbus ’s voyages that began in 1492. The consequences profoundly shaped world history in the ensuing centuries, most obviously in the Americas , Europe , and Africa . The phrase “the Columbian Exchange” is taken from the title of Alfred W. Crosby’s 1972 book, which divided the exchange into three categories: diseases , animals , and plants .

Before 1492, Native Americans (Amerindians) hosted none of the acute infectious diseases that had long bedeviled most of Eurasia and Africa : measles , smallpox , influenza , mumps , typhus , and whooping cough , among others. In most places other than isolated villages, these had become endemic childhood diseases that killed one-fourth to one-half of all children before age six. Survivors, however, carried partial, and often total, immunity to most of these infections with the notable exception of influenza. Falciparum malaria , by far the most severe variant of that plasmodial infection, and yellow fever also crossed the Atlantic from Africa to the Americas.

In the centuries after 1492, these infections swirled as epidemics among Native American populations. Physical and psychological stress, including mass violence, compounded their effect. The impact was most severe in the Caribbean , where by 1600 Native American populations on most islands had plummeted by more than 99 percent. Across the Americas, populations fell by 50 percent to 95 percent by 1650.

The disease component of the Columbian Exchange was decidedly one-sided. However, it is likely that syphilis evolved in the Americas and spread elsewhere beginning in the 1490s. More assuredly, Native Americans hosted a form of tuberculosis , perhaps acquired from Pacific seals and sea lions . But they had no counterparts to the suite of lethal diseases they acquired from Eurasians and Africans. The paucity of exportable infections was a result of the settlement and ecological history of the Americas: The first Americans arrived about 25,000 to 15,000 years ago. The domestication of species other than dogs was yet to come. So none of the human diseases derived from, or shared with, domestic herd animals such as cattle , camels , and pigs (e.g. smallpox, influenza) yet existed anywhere in the Americas. Unlike these animals, the ducks , turkeys , alpacas , llamas , and other species domesticated by Native Americans seem to have harboured no infections that became human diseases.

The animal component of the Columbian Exchange was slightly less one-sided. Horses , pigs, cattle, goats , sheep , and several other species adapted readily to conditions in the Americas. Broad expanses of grassland in both North and South America suited immigrant herbivores, cattle and horses especially, which ran wild and reproduced prolifically on the Pampas and the Great Plains . Pigs too went feral. Sheep prospered only in managed flocks and became a mainstay of pastoralism in several contexts , such as among the Navajo in New Mexico .

With the new animals, Native Americans acquired new sources of hides, wool, and animal protein. Horses and oxen also offered a new source of traction, making plowing feasible in the Americas for the first time and improving transportation possibilities through wheeled vehicles, hitherto unused in the Americas. Donkeys , mules , and horses provided a wider variety of pack animals. Thus, the introduced animal species had some important economic consequences in the Americas and made the American hemisphere more similar to Eurasia and Africa in its economy.

The new animals made the Americas more like Eurasia and Africa in a second respect. With goats and pigs leading the way, they chewed and trampled crops, provoking between herders and farmers conflict of a sort hitherto unknown in the Americas except perhaps where llamas got loose. This pattern of conflict created new opportunities for political divisions and alignments defined by new common interests.

One introduced animal, the horse , rearranged political life even further. The Native Americans of the North American prairies , often called Plains Indians , acquired horses from Spanish New Mexico late in the 17th century. On horseback they could hunt bison (buffalo) more rewardingly, boosting food supplies until the 1870s, when bison populations dwindled. Additionally, mastery of the techniques of equestrian warfare utilized against their neighbours helped to vault groups such as the Sioux and Comanche to heights of political power previously unattained by any Amerindians in North America .

The Columbian Exchange was more evenhanded when it came to crops. The Americas’ farmers’ gifts to other continents included staples such as corn (maize), potatoes , cassava , and sweet potatoes , together with secondary food crops such as tomatoes , peanuts , pumpkins , squashes , pineapples , and chili peppers . Tobacco , one of humankind’s most important drugs, is another gift of the Americas, one that by now has probably killed far more people in Eurasia and Africa than Eurasian and African diseases killed in the Americas.

Some of these crops had revolutionary consequences in Africa and Eurasia. Corn had the biggest impact, altering agriculture in Asia , Europe, and Africa. It underpinned population growth and famine resistance in parts of China and Europe, mainly after 1700, because it grew in places unsuitable for tubers and grains and sometimes gave two or even three harvests a year. It also served as livestock feed, for pigs in particular.

In Africa about 1550–1850, farmers from Senegal to Southern Africa turned to corn. Today it is the most important food on the continent as a whole. Its drought resistance especially recommended it in the many regions of Africa with unreliable rainfall.

Corn had political consequences in Africa. After harvest, it spoils more slowly than the traditional staples of African farms, such as bananas , sorghums , millets , and yams. Its longer shelf life, especially once it is ground into meal, favoured the centralization of power because it enabled rulers to store more food for longer periods of time, give it to loyal followers, and deny it to all others. Previously, without long-lasting foods, Africans found it harder to build states and harder still to project military power over large spaces. In the moist tropical forests of western and west-central Africa, where humidity worked against food hoarding , new and larger states emerged on the basis of corn agriculture in the 17th century. Some of them, including the Asante kingdom centred in modern-day Ghana , developed supply systems for feeding far-flung armies of conquest, using cornmeal, which canoes, porters, or soldiers could carry over great distances. Such logistical capacity helped Asante become an empire in the 18th century. To the east of Asante, expanding kingdoms such as Dahomey and Oyo also found corn useful in supplying armies on campaign.

The durability of corn also contributed to commercialization in Africa. Merchant parties, traveling by boat or on foot, could expand their scale of operations with food that stored and traveled well. The advantages of corn proved especially significant for the slave trade , which burgeoned dramatically after 1600. Slaves needed food on their long walks across the Sahara to North Africa or to the Atlantic coast en route to the Americas. Corn further eased the slave trade’s logistical challenges by making it feasible to keep legions of slaves fed while they clustered in coastal barracoons before slavers shipped them across the Atlantic.

Cassava , or manioc, another American food crop introduced to Africa in the 16th century as part of the Columbian Exchange, had impacts that in some cases reinforced those of corn and in other cases countered them. Cassava, originally from Brazil , has much that recommended it to African farmers. Its soil nutrient requirements are modest, and it withstands drought and insects robustly. Like corn, it yields a flour that stores and travels well. It helped ambitious rulers project force and build states in Angola , Kongo , West Africa , and beyond. Farmers can harvest cassava (unlike corn) at any time after the plant matures. The food lies in the root, which can last for weeks or months in the soil. This characteristic of cassava suited farming populations targeted by slave raiders. It enabled them to vanish into the forest and abandon their crop for a while, returning when danger had passed. So while corn helped slave traders expand their business, cassava allowed peasant farmers to escape and survive slavers’ raids.

The potato , domesticated in the Andes , made little difference in African history, although it does feature today in agriculture, especially in the Maghreb and South Africa . Farmers in various parts of East and South Asia adopted it, which improved agricultural returns in cool and mountainous districts. But its strongest impact came in northern Europe, where ecological conditions suited its requirements even at low elevations. From central Russia across to the British Isles , its adoption between 1700 and 1900 improved nutrition, checked famine, and led to a sustained spurt of demographic growth.

Potatoes store well in cold climates and contain excellent nutrition. In the Andes, where potato production and storage began, freeze-dried potatoes helped fuel the expansion of the Inca empire in the 15th century. A few centuries later potatoes fed the labouring legions of northern Europe’s manufacturing cities and thereby indirectly contributed to European industrial empires. Both Catherine the Great in Russia and Frederick II (the Great) in Prussia encouraged potato cultivation, hoping it would boost the number of taxpayers and soldiers in their domains. Like cassava, potatoes suited populations that might need to flee marauding armies. Potatoes can be left in the ground for weeks, unlike northern European grains such as rye and barley , which will spoil if not harvested when ripe. Frequent warfare in northern Europe prior to 1815 encouraged the adoption of potatoes.

Over-reliance on potatoes led to some of the worst food crises in the modern history of Europe . In 1845–52 a potato blight caused by an airborne fungus swept across northern Europe with especially costly consequences in Ireland , western Scotland , and the Low Countries . A million starved, and two million emigrated—mostly Irish.

Eurasian and African crops had an equally profound influence on the history of the American hemisphere. Until the mid-19th century, “drug crops” such as sugar and coffee proved the most important plant introductions to the Americas. Together with tobacco and cotton , they formed the heart of a plantation complex that stretched from the Chesapeake to Brazil and accounted for the vast majority of the Atlantic slave trade .

Introduced staple food crops, such as wheat , rice , rye, and barley, also prospered in the Americas. Some of these grains—rye, for example—grew well in climates too cold for corn, so the new crops helped to expand the spatial footprint of farming in both North and South America. Rice, on the other hand, fit into the plantation complex: imported from both Asia and Africa, it was raised mainly by slave labour in places such as Suriname and South Carolina until slavery’s abolition. By the late 19th century these food grains covered a wide swathe of the arable land in the Americas. Beyond grains, African crops introduced to the Americas included watermelon , yams, sorghum, millets, coffee, and okra . Eurasian contributions to American diets included bananas ; oranges , lemons , and other citrus fruits; and grapes .

The Columbian Exchange, and the larger process of biological globalization of which it is part, has slowed but not ended. Shipping and air travel continue to redistribute species among the continents. Kudzu vine arrived in North America from Asia in the late 19th century and has spread widely in forested regions. The North American gray squirrel has found a new home in the British Isles. Zebra mussels have colonized North American waters since the 1980s. However, the consequences of recent biological exchanges for economic, political, and health history thus far pale next to those of the 16th through 18th century.

Essay Service Examples History Columbian Exchange

Columbian Exchange Essay

History of columbian exchange, positive impact of columbian exchange, negative impacts of columbian exchange.

Proper editing and formatting
Free revision, title page, and bibliography
Flexible prices and money-back guarantee

Agricultural Revolution: The exchange of crops like maize, potatoes, tomatoes from the Americas and wheat, sugar, and livestock from Europe led to an agricultural revolution. New crops suited different climates and soil types, resulting in diversified farming practices and increased food production. For example, introducing the potato to Europe provided a high-yield and nutritious crop that helped alleviate famine and contributed to population growth.
Economic Growth: The transfer of precious metals such as gold and silver from the New World increased wealth and investment in European nations. The growth of trade routes and markets catalyzed economic expansion and the development of capitalism, paving the way for the modern global economy.
Cultural Exchange: The mingling of cultures led to a rich tapestry of art, music, literature, and culinary traditions. Fusing different cultural elements created new forms of expression and traditions that continue to thrive.
Technological Advancements: The sharing of technology and innovation fostered progress in various fields such as navigation, agriculture, and medicine. European advancements in shipbuilding and navigation tools facilitated exploration while introducing New World crops stimulated agricultural innovation.
Demographic Growth: The influx of new food sources contributed to better nutrition and a surge in population in many parts of Europe and Asia. The increased availability of resources supported urbanization and societal development.
Formation of Multicultural Societies: The amalgamation of European, African, and indigenous cultures in the Americas shaped unique multicultural societies. This blending of traditions and beliefs fostered a sense of community and identity in a newly connected world.
Environmental Adaptation: The introduction of non-native species allowed for new ecological interactions and adaptations. While this had some negative consequences, it enabled more resilient and diverse ecosystems in various regions.
Destruction of Indigenous Populations: Perhaps the most devastating aspect of the Columbian Exchange was the introduction of Old World diseases to the Americas. Lacking immunity, indigenous populations were decimated by smallpox, measles, and other ailments. Entire cultures and civilizations were wiped out, leading to a loss of heritage and knowledge.
Environmental Degradation: European livestock, such as pigs and cattle, caused widespread deforestation and soil erosion in the New World. Invasive species outcompeted native flora and fauna, leading to long-term environmental damage.
Exploitation and Slavery: The demand for labor to cultivate new crops and mine precious metals led to the enslavement of indigenous peoples and the growth of the transatlantic slave trade. Millions of Africans were forcibly taken to the Americas, enduring horrific conditions and a lifetime of servitude. This legacy continues to affect racial and social dynamics in many countries.
Economic Disparities: While the Columbian Exchange brought wealth to some European nations, it also led to economic imbalances. The influx of gold and silver caused inflation and financial instability in some regions, widening the gap between rich and poor.
Loss of Autonomy for Colonized Regions: European powers exerted control over vast territories in the Americas, leading to the loss of autonomy and self-determination for many indigenous communities. This colonization often involved brutal suppression of local customs and governance.
Cultural Erosion: The forced assimilation and conversion of indigenous peoples led to the erosion of unique cultural identities. Many indigenous languages, traditions, and practices were lost or marginalized.
Dependency on Single Crops: The focus on lucrative crops like sugar and tobacco led to monoculture practices, making economies overly reliant on single commodities. This left many regions vulnerable to market fluctuations and contributed to long-term economic challenges.

Our writers will provide you with an essay sample written from scratch: any topic, any deadline, any instructions.

Cite this paper

Join our 150k of happy users

Get original paper written according to your instructions
Save time for what matters most

Fair Use Policy

EduBirdie considers academic integrity to be the essential part of the learning process and does not support any violation of the academic standards. Should you have any questions regarding our Fair Use Policy or become aware of any violations, please do not hesitate to contact us via [email protected].

We are here 24/7 to write your paper in as fast as 3 hours.

Provide your email, and we'll send you this sample!

By providing your email, you agree to our Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy .

Say goodbye to copy-pasting!

Get custom-crafted papers for you.

Enter your email, and we'll promptly send you the full essay. No need to copy piece by piece. It's in your inbox!

Columbian Exchange

Written by: Mark Christensen, Assumption College

By the end of this section, you will:.

Explain causes of the Columbian Exchange and its effect on Europe and the Americas during the period after 1492

Suggested Sequencing

This narrative should be assigned to students at the beginning of their study of chapter 1, alongside the First Contacts Narrative.

When European settlers sailed for distant places during the Renaissance, they carried a variety of items, visible and invisible. Upon arriving in the Caribbean in 1492, Christopher Columbus and his crew brought with them several different trading goods. Yet they also carried unseen biological organisms. And so did every European, African, and Native American who wittingly or unwittingly took part in the Columbian Exchange – the transfer of plants, animals, humans, cultures, germs, and ideas between the Americas and the Old World. The result was a biological and ideological mixing unprecedented in the history of the planet, and one that forever shaped the cultures that participated.

For tens of millions of years, the earth’s people and animals developed in relative isolation from one another. Geographic obstacles such as oceans, rainforests, and mountains prevented the interaction of different species of animals and plants and their spread to other regions. The first settlers of the Americas, who probably crossed the Bering Strait’s ice bridge that connected modern-day Russia and Alaska thousands of years ago, brought plants, animals, and germs with them from Eurasia. However, scholars have speculated that the frigid climate of Siberia (the likely origin of the Native Americans) limited the variety of species. And although the Vikings made contact with the Americas around 1000, their impact was limited.

A large variety of new flora and fauna was introduced to the New World and the Old World in the Columbian Exchange. New World crops included maize (corn), chiles, tobacco, white and sweet potatoes, peanuts, tomatoes, papaya, pineapples, squash, pumpkins, and avocados. New World cultures domesticated only a few animals, including some small-dog species, guinea pigs, llamas, and a few species of fowl. Such animals were domesticated largely for their use as food and not as beasts of burden. For their part, Old World inhabitants were busily cultivating onions, lettuce, rye, barley, rice, oats, turnips, olives, pears, peaches, citrus fruits, sugarcane, and wheat. They too domesticated animals for their use as food, including pigs, sheep, cattle, fowl, and goats. However, cows also served as beasts of burden, along with horses and donkeys. Domesticated dogs were also used for hunting and recreation.

The lack of domesticated animals not only hampered Native Americans development of labor-saving technologies, it also limited their exposure to disease organisms and thus their immunity to illness. Europeans, however, had long been exposed to the various diseases carried by animals, as well as others often shared through living in close quarters in cities, including measles, cholera, bubonic plague, typhoid, influenza, and smallpox.

Europeans had also traveled great distances for centuries and had been introduced to many of the world’s diseases, most notably bubonic plague during the Black Death. They thus gained immunity to most diseases as advances in ship technology enabled them to travel even farther during the Renaissance. The inhabitants of the New World did not have the same travel capabilities and lived on isolated continents where they did not encounter many diseases.

All this changed with Columbus’s first voyage in 1492. When he returned to Spain a year later, Columbus brought with him six Taino natives as well as a few species of birds and plants. The Columbian exchange was underway. On his second voyage, Columbus brought wheat, radishes, melons, and chickpeas to the Caribbean. His travels opened an Atlantic highway between the New and Old Worlds that never closed and only expanded as the exchange of goods increased exponentially year after year. Although Europeans exported their wheat bread, olive oil, and wine in the first years after contact, soon wheat and other goods were being grown in the Americas too. Indeed, wheat remains an important staple in North and South America.

A map of the world shows the flow of goods, animals, and diseases between North America, South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia.

With European exploration and settlement of the New World, goods, animals, and diseases began crossing the Atlantic Ocean in both directions. This “Columbian Exchange” soon had global implications. (attribution: Copyright Rice University, OpenStax, under CC BY 4.0 license)

Horses, cattle, goats, chickens, sheep, and pigs likewise made their New World debut in the early years of contact, to forever shape its landscapes and cultures. On the lusher grasslands of the Americas, imported populations of horses, cattle, and sheep exploded in the absence of natural predators for these animals in the New World. In central Mexico, native farmers who had never needed fences complained about the roaming livestock that frequently damaged their crops. The Mapuche of Chile integrated the horse into their culture so well that they became an insurmountable force opposing the Spaniards. The introduction of horses also changed the way Native Americans hunted buffalo on the Great Plains and made them formidable warriors against other tribes.

The Atlantic highway was not one way, and certainly the New World influenced the Old World. For example, the higher caloric value of potatoes and corn brought from the Americas improved the diet of peasants throughout Europe, as did squash, pumpkins, and tomatoes. This, is turn, led to a net population increase in Europe. Tobacco helped sustain the economy of the first permanent English colony in Jamestown when smoking was introduced and became wildly popular in Europe. Chocolate also enjoyed widespread popularity throughout Europe, where elites frequently enjoyed it served hot as a beverage. A few diseases were also shared with Europeans, including bacterial infections such as syphilis, which Spanish troops from the New World spread across European populations when their nation went to war in Italy and elsewhere.

By contrast, Old World diseases wreaked havoc on native populations. Aztec drawings known as codices show Native Americans dying from the telltale symptoms of smallpox. With no previous exposure and no immunities, the Native American population probably declined by as much as 90 percent in the 150 years after Columbus’s first voyage. The Spanish and other Europeans had no way of knowing they carried deadly microbes with them, but diseases such as measles, influenza, typhus, malaria, diphtheria, whooping cough, and, above all, smallpox were perhaps the most destructive force in the conquest of the New World.

Contact and conquest also led to the blending of ideas and culture. European priests and friars preached Christianity to the Native Americans, who in turn adopted and adapted its beliefs. For instance, the Catholic celebration of All Souls and All Saints Day was blended with an Aztec festival honoring the dead; the resulting Day of the Dead festivities combined elements of Spanish Catholicism and Native American beliefs to create something new. The influence of Christianity was long-lasting; Latin America became overwhelmingly Roman Catholic.

People also blended in this Columbian Exchange. The Europeans, Native Americans, and Africans in the New World procreated, resulting in offspring of mixed race.

An image shows two paintings depicting groups of people of mixed ethnicities.

Races in the Spanish colonies were separated by legal and social restrictions. In the mid-eighteenth century, casta paintings such as these showed the popular fascination with categorizing individuals of mixed ethnicities.

Throughout the colonial period, native cultures influenced Spanish settlers, producing amestizo identity. Mestizos took pride in both their pre-Columbian and their Spanish heritage and created images such as the Virgin of Guadalupe – a brown-skinned, Latin American Mary who differed from her lighter-skinned European predecessors. The Virgin of Guadalupe became the patron saint of the Americas and the most popular among Catholic saints in general. Above all, she remains an enduring example and evidence of the Columbian Exchange.

Watch this BRI Homework Help video on the Columbian Exchange for a review of the main ideas in this essay.

Review Questions

1. The global transfer of plants, animals, disease, and food between the Eastern and Western hemispheres during the colonization of the Americas is called the

Middle Passage
Triangular Trade
Interhemisphere Exchange

2. Which of the following provides evidence of the cultural blending that occurred as a result of the Columbian Exchange?

The adoption of Aztec holidays into Spanish Catholicism
The willingness of the Spanish to learn native languages
The refusal of the Aztecs to adopt Christianity
Spanish priests’ encouragement to worship the Virgin of Guadalupe

3. Which item originated in the New World?

4. How did the Columbian Exchange affect Europe?

Domesticated animals from the New World greatly improved the productivity of European farms.
Europeans suffered massive causalities form New World diseases such as syphilis.
The higher caloric value of potatoes and corn improved the European diet.
Domesticated animals from the New World wreaked havoc in Europe, where they had no natural predators.

5. How did the Columbian Exchange affect the Americas?

Domesticated animals from the Old World greatly improved the productivity of Native Americans’ farms.
Native Americans suffered massive causalities from Old World diseases such as smallpox.
The higher caloric value of crops such as potatoes and corn improved Native Americans’ diets.
Native Americans learned to domesticate animals thanks to interactions with Europeans.

6. Which item originated in the Old World?

Free Response Questions

Compare the effects of the Columbian Exchange on North America and Europe.
Explain why historian Alfred Crosby has described the Columbian Exchange as “Ecological imperialism.”

AP Practice Questions

“The Columbian Exchange has included man, and he has changed the Old and New Worlds sometimes inadvertently, sometimes intentionally, often brutally. It is possible that he and the plants and animals he brings with him have caused the extinction of more species of life forms in the last four hundred years than the usual processes of evolution might kill off in a million. . . . The Columbian Exchange has left us with not a richer but a more impoverished genetic pool. We, all of the life on this planet, are the less for Columbus, and the impoverishment will increase.”

Alfred Crosby, The Columbian Exchange: Biological and Cultural Consequences of 1492

1. Which of the following most directly supports Crosby’s argument?

Population gain in Europe due to New World crops such as the potato
Population decline in North America due to diseases such as smallpox
Mass migration of Europeans to North America in the sixteenth century, displacing Native American groups
Overgrazing by animals introduced by Europeans

2. A historian seeking to discredit Crosby’s argument might use what evidence?

The immediate and widespread adoption of Christianity in the New World
Native Americans’ struggles with Europeans for dominance in the New World
Native American groups’ failed adoption of European technologies
A net population gain over time due to increased availability of high-caloric foods native to the New World

Primary Sources

Bartholomew Gosnold’s Exploration of Cape Cod: http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/6617

Suggested Resources

Crosby, Alfred W. The Columbian Exchange: Biological and Cultural Consequences of 1492 . New York: Praeger, 2003.

Crosby, Alfred W. Ecological Imperialism: The Biological Expansion of Europe, 900-1900 . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004.

Mann, Charles C. 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created. New York: Vintage, 2012.

McNeill, William. Plagues and Peoples . New York: Anchor, 1977.

Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness

In our resource history is presented through a series of narratives, primary sources, and point-counterpoint debates that invites students to participate in the ongoing conversation about the American experiment.

Columbian Exchange

Server costs fundraiser 2024.

The Columbian Exchange is a term coined by Alfred Crosby Jr. in 1972 that is traditionally defined as the transfer of plants, animals, and diseases between the Old World of Europe and Africa and the New World of the Americas. The exchange began in the aftermath of Christopher Columbus ' voyages in 1492, later accelerating with the European colonization of the Americas .

Columbus ' Arrival

The Americas had been isolated and cut off from Asia at the end of the last Ice Age approximately 12,000 years ago. Apart from occasional contact with Vikings in eastern Canada 500 years prior to Columbus and Polynesian voyages to the Pacific Ocean coastline of South America around 1200, there was no regular or substantial contact between the world's peoples. By the 1400s, due to rising tension in the Middle East, Europeans began the search for new trade routes led by Prince Henry the Navigator of Portugal (1394-1460), who sailed southward along the west coast of Africa, establishing trading posts. The Portuguese goal was to sail around the southern tip of Africa into the Indian Ocean to directly access the markets of India , China , and Japan .

An Italian explorer, Christopher Columbus (l. 1451-1506), sailing under the flag of Spain on behalf of Ferdinand II of Aragon and his wife Isabella of Castile, proceeded westward across the Atlantic Ocean in search of direct routes with the same markets in Asia. Columbus and his ships departed Spain on 3 August 1492, making a brief stop in the Canary Islands for provisions and ship repairs, before commencing the 5-week voyage across the Atlantic Ocean. On 12 October, Columbus and his crew made landfall in what is now the Bahamas on an island that the native people called Guanahani, which Columbus renamed San Salvador. Following Columbus' first journey, the Spanish, and later other Europeans, began settlements in which they attempted to recreate their Old World lifestyles and cultures in the Americas.

On Columbus' second voyage (1493-1496) domesticated animals – horses, cattle, pigs, chickens – were introduced to the New World for purposes of food and transportation. The subsequent establishment of sugar, rice, and later tobacco and cotton plantations formed a new basis for wealth and trade. The accidental exchange of diseases, especially those carried by the Europeans, spread to the indigenous peoples resulting in the catastrophic deaths of upwards of 90% of all native peoples.

In terms of plants, Europe had experienced its own exchange phenomenon 5,500 years earlier. The origins of world agriculture can be traced back to over 12,000 years ago, and farming was firmly established in Europe by 4,000 BCE. The crops brought to the Americas by the Europeans in the late 1400s and early 1500s served to satisfy European demands to recreate their traditional diets but would also disrupt New World agricultural systems.

The Spanish initially introduced wheat, olives, and grapevines in order to produce bread, olives, and wine, staples of the Spanish diet and intimately tied to their Catholic rituals. In time, additional cereals and sugar would cross the Atlantic, allowing Europeans to create large agricultural plantations first in the Caribbean and later spreading to Mexico and throughout the rest of the Americas. When the European-based indentured servitude system drawn from the poor, debtors, and criminals failed to provide enough labor, Europeans also enslaved indigenous peoples to work the plantations. This approach failed, too, as the native peoples were not used to the physical demands of large-scale agriculture , ran away from the farms, and were dying in high numbers due to disease exposure. The Europeans then turned their attention towards Africa, resulting in the nearly 400-year phenomenon of the Transatlantic Slave Trade. Africa supplied not only people for work but contributed to the exchange of plants by introducing rice, bananas, plantains, lemons, and black-eyed peas, creating additional sources of food and wealth for colonists and agricultural enterprises.

The Americas also provided Europe, Asia, and Africa with a rich variety of new foodstuffs. Maize, potatoes, beans, tomatoes, peanuts, tobacco, and cacao ( chocolate ) were among the plants that journeyed eastward across the Atlantic. By the 1530s, tobacco, smoked and inhaled (in the form of snuff) by Native Americans, became a very valuable cash crop, especially in the British Middle Atlantic colonies. Cacao was used by the Olmec , the Maya civilization , and cultivated in Aztec agriculture. The cacao bean was ground into a powder and infused into water creating a very bitter drink, which was disliked by Europeans. Hernan Cortés (1485-1547) brought cacao back to Spain in 1528. The Spanish added sugar and honey to alleviate the bitterness, and in the next hundred years , as it spread throughout Europe, vanilla was added to the mixture producing a new luxury item: chocolate.

The potato had the greatest impact on Europe affecting both their diet and lifespan. Potato consists of essential vitamins and nutrients, and it can grow in a wide range of soils capable. Producing high yields, the introduction of potato ended centuries-old cycles of malnourishment and famine, leading to higher population growth in Europe.

The discovery and use of quinine by Europeans assisted them in their future colonial adventures in Africa. Native to the Andes mountains region of Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru, and Colombia, the cinchona tree's bark contains an alkaloid that provides effective medicinal treatment against malaria-carrying mosquitos. The discovery by Dr. Thomas Thomson in 1841 and the use of quinine by Europeans helped to cut in half the rate of deaths among European colonizers in the Africa and Pacific Ocean areas of colonization .

Cayenne, bell, tabasco, and jalapeño peppers derive from the capsicum pepper found in Bolivia and Brazil. Arriving in Europe after 1493, capsicum spread throughout South and East Asia and was adopted into the traditional cuisines of many European and Asian countries including Hungary (paprika) and Korea (kimchi). Medicinal uses of peppers have proved to be as valuable as their culinary adaptations. Capsicum offers the necessary requirements of vitamins A, B, and C; aids digestion by increasing the amounts of saliva and gastric acids; and is now used for pain relief for cases of arthritis, toothaches, and certain repository illnesses.

Tobacco, initially thought to possess medicinal value, was used in the American colonies as a currency for a short while. Tobacco's various smoking products increased significantly during and after World War I but has been shown to be one of the leading causes of death around the world according to the World Health Organization. Thought to increase creativity and reduce hunger, coca is the central ingredient in producing cocaine. Native to the Andes, coca was chewed as part of a ritual in the Inca religion and was adopted as such by Spanish settlers in the New World. Its most famous adaptation was in the creation of Coca-Cola developed in the 1880s by an Atlanta pharmacist as a substitution for alcohol during Prohibition in the United States. Like the soft drink, cocaine has spread around the globe and is one of the most used illegally traded drugs.

The Columbian Exchange facilitated the transfer of all of the major domesticated animals from the Old World to the Americas: cattle, horses, sheep, goats, and pigs. The few domesticated species in Pre-Columbian America included the dog and the alpaca. The alpaca was limited in its use as it could not be ridden for transportation and could not carry loads greater than c. 35 kg (75 pounds). However, its fur could be used for making cloth. The largest animal present in the Americas was the bison, but it resisted domestication.

The Spanish allowed imported domesticated herds to roam freely over the plentiful supply of lands upon which the animals thrived. Additionally, the Americas contained no natural predators to the new animals. However, these newly introduced animals upset the ecological balance as they ate and destroyed much of the native plants. Three domesticated European animals had an immediate effect: cattle, horses, and pigs. By 1565 cattle ranching spread from the Caribbean to Mexico and Florida. Along with cattle, the Spanish brought the metal plow. This instrument, hitched to cattle, permitted the Europeans to expand the size of their agricultural enterprises. More planted land produced more food and consequently increased the population size and extended life expectancy. Furthermore, cattle provided a stable source of protein in the form of meat and dairy products.

The horse allowed Europeans to travel greater distances into the interior of the continents. The horse also provided greater speed and height advantages in conflicts with the indigenous peoples and frightened the natives with their appearance. Unable to contain the proliferation of reproduction, the horse spread quickly across the Americas. In time the native peoples would adopt and adapt the horse for travel and warfare .

On his second voyage to the Americas in 1493, Columbus brought pigs. Unusually rugged in surviving the ocean voyage, the pig provided the Spanish with an additional source of food. Pigs that escaped into the wild became the ancestors of today's feral pig population and provided an opportunity for hunting by later explorers and colonists. During Hernando de Soto's expedition to La Florida (1539-1542) , the pig was introduced to North America.

The most devastating component of the Columbian exchange was the transfer of Old World diseases to the Americas. Among the lethal germs were smallpox, measles, mumps, whooping cough, chickenpox, typhus, and influenza. The later Transatlantic Slave Trade introduced hepatitis B, malaria, and yellow fever to this deadly disease cocktail. Native populations were decimated by disease outbreaks which allowed the Spanish, and later Europeans, to conquer the indigenous populations more easily.

Most infectious diseases in history have been passed from herds of domesticated animals into the human population in a process known as zoonosis. Beginning after 8,000 BCE, these lethal germs entered Europe, first as occasional outbreaks and then becoming endemics, especially as population density increased. As Europeans lived with domesticated animals, including animals residing in houses, for thousands of years, the prolonged and repeated exposure to those germs allowed the Europeans to develop natural immunities. This, however, did not apply to the indigenous populations in the Americas. Having been cut off from exposure to diseases after the last Ice Age, the native peoples lost any acquired immunities. Additionally, the indigenous population of the Americas had fewer domesticated animals from which diseases might emerge and transfer.

The first disease that made its appearance in the New World was influenza in 1506 followed by smallpox in 1519. Indigenous peoples would begin to sicken and die in extremely high numbers so much so that by 1650 it has been estimated that 90% of the native populations perished. Disease was the most effective ally of the Spanish conquistadors either preceding or accompanying them in their conquests across the Caribbean and the Americas. Hernan Cortés, in August 1519, successfully conquered the largest city in the Americas, Tenochtitlan , after a 75-day siege in which a few hundred conquistadors defeated a native army numbering in the thousands. Disease, warfare, and starvation weakened the abilities of the Aztecs to resist. Cortés' conquest of the Aztecs ultimately left only about 2 million people of the roughly 11-25 million who existed when the Spanish first arrived in Mexico. Disease also accompanied Francisco Pizzaro when he conquered the Inca in Peru in the early 1530s.

The disease exchange occurred in both directions. Syphilis crossed the Atlantic Ocean back to Europe by some of Columbus' sailors who had engaged in sexual relations with native women in the Caribbean. A few of those sailors joined the army of Charles VIII of France (r. 1483-1498) when he invaded Italy in 1494-95. The first recorded case of syphilis was reported in Naples in 1495. Recently historians have offered an alternative theory about the introduction of syphilis into Europe. It has been suggested that the disease already existed in Europe prior to the 15th century but was misdiagnosed and thought to be other diseases such as leprosy because the symptoms –pain, rashes, genital ulcers – were similar. Left untreated, syphilis causes death amongst its sufferers.

Consequences

Often referred to as one of the most pivotal events in world history, the Columbian exchange altered life on 3 separate continents. The new plants and animals brought to the Americas and the new plants brought back to Europe transformed farming and human diets. From the 16th century onward, farmers enjoyed a wider variety of plants and animals to choose from to earn a living and expand their prospects for wealth. The new crops on all 3 continents allowed farmers to plant in soils that were previously unusable thus producing higher yields and ending an ongoing history of food insecurity.

To meet the growing labor demands, especially on the expanding cash crop plantations, the Europeans turned to Africa. The Transatlantic Slave Trade represented the largest forced migration of people in human history with the transfer of 12-20 million Africans to the Americas between the 16th to 19th centuries. The result of the various exchanges became known as the triangular trade in which the Americas supplied the Old World with raw materials, Europe transformed those raw materials into finished goods which were traded to Africa and the Americas, while Africa supplied slaves to fulfill labor needs in the New World.

The transfer of domesticated animals to the New World would, along with the transfer of plants, alter human diets, provide new forms of transportation and inaugurate a new form of warfare between peoples for centuries to come. By the 1560s, the islands in the Caribbean were largely depopulated due to lethal, infectious diseases. Not only did whole civilizations collapse due to sickness, another 20% of native peoples died from famine resulting from the collapse of the local farming sector.

Scholarship on the Columbian exchange has expanded to include additional items transferred across the ocean in the centuries after Columbus. Nunn and Qian describe how rubber, found in trees and vines in Central and South America as well as West-Central Africa, was initially used by Africans primarily as an adhesive and Native Americans for boots, tents, and containers. After 1770, the use of rubber increased significantly with the discovery of vulcanization, which created a more stable compound that could be used as electrical insulation along with increased production of tires for bicycles, automobiles, and motorcycles. Rubber production exacted a terrible toll on Central Africa during the period of European colonization.

Other aspects of the Columbian exchange include economic, religious, and cultural transformations. The tremendous amounts of silver which flowed from the mines in South America back to Spain altered the European economy . The new wealth led to better lives for many Europeans and an increased population. The increased circulation of silver permitted the Catholic Church to underwrite a response to the challenges posed by the Protestant Reformation as well as spread Catholicism amongst the natives in the Americas. More detailed maps of lands and oceans, greater circulation of news flowing from the New World assisted by the new printing press, more effective navigational devices such as the compass, and astronomical discoveries helped launch a golden age in literature and art. The Columbian exchange, which started out as the introduction of new plants, animals, and diseases into different cultures, ultimately took on greater significance in the profound cultural, colonial, economic, nationalist, and labor consequences.

Subscribe to topic Related Content Books Cite This Work License

Bibliography

Alfred W. Crosby, Jr. "“Virgin Soil Epidemics as a Factor in the Aboriginal Depopulation in America”." he William and Mary Quarterly , 33, no. 2 (1976), pp. 289–99.
Bianchine PJ, Russo TA. "The Role of Epidemic Infectious Diseases in the Discovery of America." Allergy Proc. , 13(5) 1992 Sep-Oct, pp. 225-32.
Crosby Jr., Alfred W. The Columbian Exchange. Praeger, 2003.
How Disease and Conquest Carved a New Planetary Landscape , accessed 22 Apr 2022.
How the Columbian Exchange Brought Globalization—And Disease , accessed 22 Apr 2022.
J. R. Mcneill. "Europe's Place in the Global History of Biological Exchange." Landscape Research , Volume 28, 2003 - Issue 1, pp. 33-39.
Nathan Nunn and Nancy Qian. "The Columbian Exchange: A History of Disease, Food, and Ideas." Journal of Economic Perspectives , Volume 24, Number 2—Spring 2010, pp. 163–188.
Rebecca Earle. "The Columbian Exchange." The Oxford Handbook of Food History , edited by Jeffrey M. Pilcher, ed. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2012, 341-57.
Sherry Johnson. ""Dreams of Empire: The Legacies of Contact." ." Myths and Dreams: Exploring the Cultural Legacies of Florida and the Caribbean , edited by Phyllis Shapiro. Jay I. Kislak Foundation, Inc., 2000, 21-34.
What We Eat: The Story of Livestock in America - #104 , accessed 22 Apr 2022.

About the Author

Translations

We want people all over the world to learn about history. Help us and translate this definition into another language!

Questions & Answers

What was the columbian exchange, how did the columbian exchange change the world, related content.

Hernán Cortés

Christopher Columbus

Cortés & the Fall of the Aztec Empire

European Colonization of the Americas

Inca Civilization

The Fall of Tenochtitlan

Free for the world, supported by you.

World History Encyclopedia is a non-profit organization. For only $5 per month you can become a member and support our mission to engage people with cultural heritage and to improve history education worldwide.

Recommended Books

External Links

Cite this work.

Horgan, J. (2022, May 19). Columbian Exchange . World History Encyclopedia . Retrieved from https://www.worldhistory.org/Columbian_Exchange/

Chicago Style

Horgan, John. " Columbian Exchange ." World History Encyclopedia . Last modified May 19, 2022. https://www.worldhistory.org/Columbian_Exchange/.

Horgan, John. " Columbian Exchange ." World History Encyclopedia . World History Encyclopedia, 19 May 2022. Web. 26 Aug 2024.

License & Copyright

Submitted by John Horgan , published on 19 May 2022. The copyright holder has published this content under the following license: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike . This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon this content non-commercially, as long as they credit the author and license their new creations under the identical terms. When republishing on the web a hyperlink back to the original content source URL must be included. Please note that content linked from this page may have different licensing terms.

Home / Essay Samples / History / Colonialism / Columbian Exchange

Columbian Exchange Essay Examples

How the columbian exchange affected on society.

The discovery of the New World by European explorers during the 15th century brought about an ongoing transatlantic exchange of disease, tangible goods, ideas, and ethnic groups and their respective cultures. The Atlantic Ocean became a vehicle for the constant interchange between the Old World...

The Process of Columbian Exchange and Its Effects

Columbian exchange is the process of exchanging concepts, meals, the population, and crops among the old and the new world due to the voyage on American history by Christopher Columbus in 1942. The Old World represents Europe and the Eastern Hemisphere, and these nations highly...

Everlasting Effects of the Columbian Exchange

Christopher Columbus knew the earth was round, but he didn't know how big it really was. He tried to get funding for his voyage to find new water routes to Asia however, no kingdom would fund his voyage unless Spain did. The Spanish Queen gave...

How the Development of the United States Came to Be: from the Columbian Exchange to the American Revolution

Throughout history there has been much diversity, complexity, and sophisticated nature from pre-Columbian to Colonial North America. These events that occurred had helped transform what America is today. From the Columbian exchange to colonial encounters to revolution, which forms a type of identity – an...

The Availability of Food and Its Impact on Italian Culture: the Role of the Columbian Exchange

Historically, as connections between countries grow, the swapping of cultural foods and dishes increases as well. No longer is it hard to find specific foods or spices in countries that are not the origin country. Globalization creates accessibility making an Italian culture that no longer...

Analysis of the Effects of the Columbian Exchange

A great many years prior, mainland float conveyed the Old World and New Worlds separated, parting North and South America from Eurasia and Africa. That detachment kept going so long that it cultivated disparate advancement; for example, the improvement of diamondbacks on one side of...

Positive and Negative Results of the Columbian Exchange

Following the voyage of Christopher Columbus in 1492, exploration and economic demand was accelerated at the dawn of a new era of transoceanic interactions, prompting permanent and widespread changes on a global scale. Known as the Columbian exchange, this process of trade and diffusion signified...

A Critique of the Columbian Exchange and Its Outcomes

The Columbian Exchange was the biological exchange of diseases, food, animals, and people around the world. This is something that had an enormous impact on the people and cities all over. When voyagers made their first trips to the new world, they brought animals unfamiliar...

Analysis of How Columbian Exchange Re-shaped Global Consumption Patterns from the Seventeenth to Nineteenth Centuries

The discovery of America by Cristobal Colon, in 1492, was one of the most important events in world history and represents the definitive encounter of two worlds that had evolved independently from the origin of humanity, which changed the course of history. For the first...

How Columbian Exchange Influences on Different Fields

For thousands of years, the people of the continents of North American and Europe had lead separate lives. Both peoples had developed at different paces and for the most part did not have connection with each other. However, in 1492, Christopher Columbus started his voyage...

Trying to find an excellent essay sample but no results?

Don’t waste your time and get a professional writer to help!

Columbian Exchange

Columbian Exchange Essay

Table of contents

Cite this paper

Related articles

Most popular essays

Join our 150k of happy users

Written by: Mark Christensen, Assumption College

Suggested Sequencing

Review Questions

Free Response Questions

AP Practice Questions

Primary Sources

Suggested Resources

Related Content

Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness

Columbian Exchange

Columbus ' Arrival

Consequences

Bibliography

About the Author

Translations

Questions & Answers

Hernán Cortés

Christopher Columbus

Cortés & the Fall of the Aztec Empire

European Colonization of the Americas

Inca Civilization

The Fall of Tenochtitlan

Recommended Books

External Links

Chicago Style

License & Copyright

Columbian Exchange Essay Examples

The Process of Columbian Exchange and Its Effects

Everlasting Effects of the Columbian Exchange

How the Development of the United States Came to Be: from the Columbian Exchange to the American Revolution

The Availability of Food and Its Impact on Italian Culture: the Role of the Columbian Exchange

Analysis of the Effects of the Columbian Exchange

Positive and Negative Results of the Columbian Exchange

A Critique of the Columbian Exchange and Its Outcomes

Analysis of How Columbian Exchange Re-shaped Global Consumption Patterns from the Seventeenth to Nineteenth Centuries

How Columbian Exchange Influences on Different Fields

You may also like