Social Impact Of The Columbian Exchange

The Columbian Exchange started after Christopher Columbus’ “discovery” in 1942 of a New World. This discovery lent to the entire Western world to gain and to grow with years of expansion and discovery. The Columbian Exchange was a worldwide phenomenon that transfer plants, animals, technology, ideas and specially culture from Europe to America and vice versa. This exchange will

Although Columbus's revelation of the New World to the Old World caused deadly diseases to both hemispheres, a loss of preservation of native American culture in the New World, and the unhealthy effect of tobacco in the Old World, it made an overall positive impact in lasting terms by the introduction of religion and horses and cattle in the New World and the new agriculture advancements and alpacas. The Eastern-Western hemisphere encounter was obviously positive in the Western hemisphere because of the fact that most of us here would have never been born, but the introduction of religions made a lasting impact. Most Europeans were religious and wanted to share their faith with the natives. Some people also came to escape religious

Native Americans easily engaged in trade with Europeans. They wished to include new glass and metal items in their society. European and Native Americans viewed trade as a means for economic development. Native Americans viewed trade, also, as a way for communicating with individuals and maintaining interdependence. This is evident in the elaborate gift giving celebrations that occurred before exchanging of goods occurred. For Europeans, however, these social and spiritual functions of trade were limited a great deal more.

Throughout the course of history there have been numerous accounts regarding Native American and European interaction. From first contact to Indian removal, the interaction was somewhat of a roller coaster ride, leading from times of peace to mini wars and rebellions staged by the Native American tribes. The first part of this essay will briefly discuss the pre-Columbian Indian civilizations in North America and provide simple awareness of their cultures, while the second part of this essay will explore all major Native American contact leading up to, and through, the American Revolution while emphasizing the impact of Spanish, French, and English explorers and colonies on Native American culture and vice versa. The third, and final, part of this essay will explore Native American interaction after the American Revolution with emphasis on westward expansion and the Jacksonian Era leading into Indian removal. Furthermore, this essay will attempt to provide insight into aspects of Native American/European interaction that are often ignored such as: gender relations between European men and Native American women, slavery and captivity of native peoples, trade between Native Americans and European colonists, and the effects of religion on Native American tribes.

After Columbus made his journey to the New World in 1492, the Europeans brought a different culture to the people of the New World and took many new ideas back to the Old one, this was the time period known as the Columbian Exchange. Most of what the Europeans took from the Exchange was good, but some of what they brought was devastating to the people in the New World. Although, this time period was very brutal for the Native Americans, the Columbian Exchange resulted in the transmitting of new technologies, an increase in remedies and cures for diseases, and a growth in resources such as food that helped to improve life.

For years, the Native Americans lived a very solitary life with their own unique way of living, that was until the European’s showed up with their very complex way of living. Harmony with nature was a very important aspect of Native American culture. The Native people embraced nature with no intention to modify it unlike the Europeans. They simply cared more about nature and what it had to offer. The spiritual connection between the land and these Natives were distinctive from the Europeans also due to the fact that to the settlers, land meant wealth. As a European, if you owned any land you were considered a wealthy upper class human being. As a Native, no one owned the land and anyone could benefit from the land.

During the sixteenth century European pilgrims migrated across the Atlantic Ocean to settle in North America. North America had just been introduced to the Western Civilization. The America’s were home to the indigenous people, that were made up of several tribes that were called Indians by the early settlers. Together the Indians and settlers began to thrive. Growth and development in the new world was made possible by the abundant amount of natural resources.

As the encroachment of settlers on Indian lands continued, so did the inevitable conflicts. "To the Indians, the arriving Europeans seemed attuned to another world; they appeared oblivious to the rhythms and spirits of nature" (Jordan, 1991). Nature to the Europeans was something of an obstacle, even an enemy, and these disrespectful attitudes were quite apparent to the Indians. The wilderness was also a commodity however: "a forest was so many board feet of timber, a beaver colony so many pelts, a herd of buffalo so many hides" (Jordan, 1991). The Europeans' cultural arrogance and ethnocentrism, and their materialistic view of the land and its inhabitants were repulsive to the Indians. "Europeans, overall, were regarded as something mechanical - soulless creatures wielding diabolically ingenious tools and weapons to accomplish selfish ends" (Jordan, 1991).

The Columbian Exchange refers to the time period in which the Native Americans of North America traded plants, animals, livestock, diseases, and new modernized technology with the Europeans. Not only were these things spread between the two nations, but the word was spread that North America was a new place for world to come and make their own. The early days of colonizing America was not successful for most of the countries wanting a part of it. These countries included England, Spain, and Portugal. The reasons behind them not finding prosperity in this land was because it was unchartered and no one knew what the land contained. The people struggled with adapting different and untried farming methods. Most of the exploring that was done brought many issues between the Native Americans and the new coming country. Provided that the Natives didn’t want new settlers on their land, and the settlers didn’t want any issues with claiming this new land as their own.

American history frequently centers on the issues of ethnic diversity and resource allocation. In the contemporary, we begin to see the experiences of the Native inhabitants of the Americas in contrast to European settlers and colonizers, is a prime example of this process in motion. When European settlers first arrived to the New World in the 15th century, firstly the Spanish, they brought with them a material cultural based upon an economic standard of resource exploitation, which in a sense was hostile to most of the Native peoples of the Americas. For instance, as Blackhawk notes that, Europeans built permanent settlements consisting of immovable structures, whereas many of the Great Basin peoples were semi-migratory in nature. Additionally, as Europeans claimed possession over the land, its resources, and began a process of territorial delimitation, Native peoples whose lives

Europeans and Native Americans were first introduced to each other when Europeans arrived at the New World, the northeastern side of North America. Native Americans were originally perceived as noble savages through writings because humans were not tempted by the narcissism of the modern world. Other times, Native Americans were perceived as devils since they did not have churches or religions and men often changed wives many times (Berkin 19). Europeans traded goods such as glass beads, mirrors, and brass bells for the furs and land of the American Indians. While Native Americans and European immigrants increased contact with each other, Europeans’ attitudes and perceptions towards American Indians began to decline as they took over the land

The Columbian Exchange was a major milestone in the diffusion of the New and Old World. Ever since Christopher Columbus arrived in the Bahamas in 1492, his interactions with the Native Americans has changed the development of the new world. During his first trip to the Bahamas, he exchanged their cultures such as crops, animals, and diseases. The Columbian Exchange has resulted in many positive and negative effects between the New World and Europe.

As one of the most prominent trade routes between Europe, Africa, and America, the effects of the Columbian Exchange was both beneficial and destructive the the “New World.” After Columbus’s sea voyage in 1492, European colonies stepped on the land of possibilities. However, whereas people witnessed the American exponential economical growth, the intrustion of European colonists brought with severe ecological, demographical, and cultural destruction.

The Columbian Exchange was a region of trade that occurred during period of biological and cultural exchanges of the Atlantic states. Exchanges of culture, ideas, diseases, slaves and technology transformed European and Native American societies. In 1492 the exchange lasted throughout the years of European expansion and exploration. The Columbian Exchange affected the social and cultural aspects of the old and new world. Advancements in agricultural production, development of warfare, mortality rates meaning death rates, and education of Native Americans are some examples of how the Columbian Exchange influenced both Native Americans and Europeans.

The encounter is a term used to describe the collision when Europeans came into contact with indigenous Americans in 1492. The encounter had many demographic, social, and political effects on Europe and the Americas. The Europeans discovered the Americas when in search of gold and glory and they set up forced labor systems. After the initial encounter, the Native Americans and Europeans began to exchange ideas, crops and goods. Through these ideas of mercantilism the Columbian exchange developed. The Columbian exchange was an international exchange of food, disease, and manufactured products. The encounter had many positive and negative impacts on both regions. In 1492 the encounter between the Americas and the Europeans developed. These two regions differed in their population were differently affected. The Europeans population greatly increased due to the influx of food they received because through trade with afro Eurasia. The Native Americans population greatly decreased because the Europeans introduced many new diseases when they conquered the Americas. These two regions were similar in that due to the encounter economic prosperity between both regions increased due to trade and businesses flourishing. The encounter had a greater long last impact on Europe than the Americas because its economic and demographic impacts outweighed the Americas impacts.