Through the Columbian Exchange, Europeans introduced different livestocks that benefited them in transporting and farming. Plowing was made possible in America due to the cattle that was brought from Europe, so that people didn’t have to use human labor as much as before. Horses became their main transportation not only for traveling, but also when combating in war. Tribes were able to expand their land and also were able to hunt more easily. The Europeans also brought back many new crops that changed drastically in various places of Europe. Tobacco and potato were one of the most successful crops that brought many new changes. Tobacco was produced massively, from the high demands of many Europeans. The increased good crops also brought massive population growth, and the European livestock lead to agricultural bloom in the Americas.
Gold and silver were major resources that were brought back to Europe. Due to the rareness and the value of the items, it represented high wealth. The amount of gold and silver in a country represented the nation’s wealth and the concept was mercantilism. Europeans also imported raw materials in order to export manufactured goods. These economic trades developed new policies and systems. New systems, such as capitalism, were developed. Capitalism allowed merchants to have private ownerships and created joint stock companies. Joint stock companies had shaped up most of our economic system afterwards, even till today. These economic systems developed greatly from the new goods from the Columbian Trade and has impacted greatly in society.
As new products were introduced to Europe, some unwanted factors were brought to America. These unwanted factors were diseases that the Native Americans had no resistance to it. The Europeans had been living with several livestocks, that carried a lot of diseases, for ages, in which they grew resistance towards them. However the only livestock that was familiar to the Natives were the turkeys, so they didn’t develop a better immune system than the Europeans did. The new brought diseases, most notably smallpox, caused a huge decrease in the Native American’s population growth. The reduced population of the Native Americans affected slavery greatly.
Due to the insufficiency of Native Americans as slaves, the Europeans kidnapped Africans and brought them to America to work on plantation farms. The plantation farms mostly consisted of tobacco and cotton. The African slaves were forced to do cheap labor on these farms due to the profits being earned from these raw materials being manufactured. The Europeans chose Africans because of their better immunity of diseases compared to the Native Americans. The African slaves that were brought throughout the world for cheap labor created the African Diaspora. The African Diaspora was the spread of African culture across the world and impacted society greatly. The negative effects of slavery were that many stronger people weren’t able to benefit to African countries. Many other resources of Africa were exploited and was one of the reasons that Africa remained poor till today.
The Columbian Exchange had several lasting effects till today. The trades that were exchanged between the two continents benefited them each in different ways. Although some effects were negative, there were brighter effects that came from the Columbian Exchange. Without the Columbian Exchange, there would’ve been no better immune system for the people who lived in America. There wouldn’t had been any major companies today. If there was no Columbian Exchange, livestock wouldn’t have been in America, there would only be llamas and turkeys living there. The Columbian Exchange was a critical change in history, for it caused a major turning point in economic developments that had a lasting effect even till today.