Pre-Columbian Mexico was far from the uncivilized and sparsely populated image Europeans portray. For example, Tenochtitlan (now, geographically, Mexico City) had a population of a quarter million when Cortés' forces arrived in 1519. This makes Tenochtitlan larger than any European city of the time (Grennes 2007). At their peaks, the Aztec empire had a population of 25 million and the Inca empire had a population of 15 million. In North America, population was not as dense as their southern neighbors but their environment did not go unscathed. For example, the slash-and-burn method was used to improve their hunter-gatherer lifestyle. Prairies became more open for hunting and wooded areas soils were replenished by the ashes. Unlike the Old World, which includes Europe and Asia, the Native Americans had not mastered metallurgy or the large scale use of metal tools, had significantly fewer domesticated animals and used animals for ...
... middle of paper ...
...usiness institutions and increased economic growth. Welfare and urbanization blossomed with the introduction of sugar and potatoes in massive quantities to the working class in Europe. Depopulation plus increased demand for crops in the Americas gave rise to the transatlantic slave trade. Devastating political, social, and economic consequences for the African continent.
Search for precious metals by the Spanish, in a sequential over exploitation fashion, pushed the Spanish inland, but not as fast as their diseases, plants, and animals (Grennes 2012) Classic American icons such as beef, pork, horses, and wheat were actually participants in the Columbian Exchange. Technologically, the New World suddenly acquired iron tools and wheels. (Grennes 2007) In the sense of biological diversity, the Americas were more fragile due to its 12,000 years of isolation (Sheridan)
Need Writing Help?
Get feedback on grammar, clarity, concision and logic instantly.Check your paper »
- The Columbian Exchange is a global exchange of goods and ideas between the Old World (Europe, Asia and Africa) and the New World (America). When Columbus first discovered America, Spain wanted to set up colonies. Columbus found some people that he named “Indians.” They colonies started to trade with each other, and by doing do, they started the Columbian Exchange. Many countries were involved in this trade, including China, Africa and Italy. This exchange of new ideas, traditions, food, religion and diet changed cultures everywhere.... [tags: Columbian Exchange, ]
486 words (1.4 pages)
- Blevins Midterm Columbian Exchange In 1492, Christopher Columbus sailed his first voyage to the Americans and launched the beginning of contact between the Eastern and Western hemispheres, which the historian Alfred Crosby named the beginning of the new modern era of world history as “the Columbian Exchange”. This exchange was a considerably widespread exchange of animals, plants, culture, human populations involving slaves, communicable diseases, and ideas between the Old and New Worlds. The exchange of plants and animals changed the ways of life for the Europeans, Americans, Africans, and Asians allowing the areas to circulate a wide variety of new crops and livestock which supported incr... [tags: History, Christopher Columbus, Columbia]
1482 words (4.2 pages)
- ... By the mid-1600s, the drink made from the little brown beans had gained widespread popularity in France. In Europe, chocolate (as a drink) gained popularity as the production of the beans became more popular. More of the lower and middle class were able to afford it, and it was considered a great treat to have. In terms of economic impact, the cacao had been a boon for the Europeans. It was praised as a delicious, health-giving food enjoyed by the wealthy (McNeill, The Columbian Exchange). Starting from its native land of South America, the cacao plant had truly traveled a long way across the globe to impact other lands.... [tags: cacao, beans, product, item]
652 words (1.9 pages)
- On August 3, 1492, Christopher Columbus departed from Palos, Spain to begin his journey across the Atlantic Ocean. This was the first of many voyages that allowed him to explore a New World where he was able to discover plants, animals, cultures and resources that Europeans had never seen before. The sharing of these resources and combination of the Old and New World has come to be known as the Columbian Exchange. During these explorations, the Europeans brought diseases such as malaria, yellow fever, typhoid and bubonic plague to the New World, wiping out entire Indian populations.... [tags: History]
2028 words (5.8 pages)
- The Colombian Exchange was an extensive exchange between the eastern and western hemispheres as knows as the Old World and New World. The Colombian exchange greatly affects almost every society. It prompted both voluntary and forced migration of millions of human beings. There are both positive and negative effects that you can see from the Colombian Exchange. The Colombian Exchange explorers created contact between Europe and the Americas. The interaction with Native Americans began the exchange of animals, plants, disease, and weapons.... [tags: Informative Essay]
1084 words (3.1 pages)
- The Columbian Exchange is the exchange of plants, animals, food, and diseases between Europe and the Americas. In 1492, when Christopher Columbus came to America, he saw plants and animals he had never seen before so he took them back with him to Europe. Columbus began the trade routes which had never been established between Europe and the Americas so his voyages initiated the interchange of plants between the Eastern and Western Hemispheres, which doubled the food crop resources available to people on both sides of the Atlantic.... [tags: World History]
1121 words (3.2 pages)
- Research Question: Between 1450 and 1750, how did the advancement and development of Christianity influence and impact different cultures. Dom Henrique of Portugal (1450 CE) - Dom Henrique of Portugal is also known as Henry the Navigator. Prince Henry was involved with the expansion of Portuguese rule in the Pacific Islands. His main reasons for his voyages were to explore Africa, expand trade, and expand Christianity. This is important because Prince Henry’s goals and achievements are what inspired Vasco de Gama's discovery of a way to India and Christopher Columbus’s voyage to America[ "Prince Henry the Navigator." Prestage, Edgar.... [tags: cultures, anti-cristian campaing]
1871 words (5.3 pages)
- ... At the time people that lived in Afro-Eurasia had developed immunities to these diseases. Native Americans did not have these immunities that’s why possibly 90% of the first Americans died between 1492 and 1650. Old World crops such as wheat, barley, rice, and turnips had not traveled west across the Atlantic. Some of the New World crops that haven’t traveled east to Europe were maize, white potatoes, sweet potatoes, and manioc. But in the Americas there weren’t any sheep, goats, or horses, all animals of Old World origin.... [tags: pangaea, atlantic ocean, old world]
518 words (1.5 pages)
- The Lasting Effects of the Columbian Exchange During the Age of Discovery It should no longer come as any great surprise that Columbus was not the first to discover the Americas--Carthaginians, Vikings, and even St. Brendan may have set foot on the Western Hemisphere long before Columbus crossed the Atlantic. But none of these incidental contacts made the impact that Columbus did. Columbus and company were bound to bring more than the benefits of Christianity and double entry bookkeeping to America.... [tags: American America History]
1821 words (5.2 pages)
- In his article “The Columbian Voyages, the Columbian Exchange, and Their Historians”, Alfred W. Crosby seems to think that much of the Columbian voyages and what came out of them was detrimental to many cultures, most of all the Native Americans. Crosby brings up many institutions and ideologies to re-enforce his opinion, such as the slave trade and the conquest of many Native American cultures. One of the major effects of the Columbian exchange was the decimation of the Native American population.... [tags: essays research papers]
770 words (2.2 pages)