The Columbian Exchange: Trading Corn for Smallpox
If Native Americans were able to sail across the Atlantic Ocean in the time shortly before Christopher Columbus, would they have been able to conquer and colonize countries like Spain or Portugal? Assuming this were even possible, there are a significant factor that would have given the old world an upper hand in such a scenario. This paper will show that even if the Native Americans would have been the first to reach out and make contact, history would have still favored the Iberians.
To set the stage, we must go back 270 million years ago when a majority of the earth’s land masses were collected together in a single continent, a supercontinent, named Pangaea (Encyclopedia Britannica, 1). Historian Alfred Crosby explained that this collected all of earth’s land based biology into a single place, creating a single Darwinian “arena for competition” (Crosby, 1). Or in other words, one big evolutionary pot. Crosby also explains that 180 million years ago, Pangea split into two major land masses, what is now the Americas in the Western Hemisphere as one land mass and Euro-Asia and Africa as the second lass mass (Crosby, 1). What was once a single evolutionary pot, was now two, allowing for plant and animal life to take different evolutionary paths. These two worlds remained relatively separate from each other until the arrival of Christopher Columbus and other European explorers. That contact between the old world and the new world brought two distinct evolutionary arenas crashing into each other and returned a majority of the earth’s landmass into a single Darwinian pot, (Crosby, 1) This was Crosby’s re-knitting of the torn “seams of Pangaea.”
When these two landmasses were “re-knit,”...
... middle of paper ...
...Lord, 4). To put this in perspective, “The 150 years after Columbus’s arrival brought a toll on human life in this [the Western] hemisphere comparable to all of the world’s losses in World War II,” (Lord, 4). In his book, Plagues and Peoples, William McNeill attributes this population reduction with the old world diseases that “swept across the hemisphere far faster than the Europeans that brought them,” (Lord, 1).
To return to the original question of what would have happened if the new world would have attempted to colonize the old, I believe it’s important to point out that the premises presented in this paper remain constant regardless of which hemisphere initiated contact. The new world’s lack of resistance to the diseases introduced by the old set them up to be on the losing end of one of the most uneven deals in modern human history: trading corn for smallpox.
In Alfred J. Crosby’s book, The Columbian Exchange, the author examines the impact of the New World on the Old World, but also the impact the Old World had on the New World. One key distinction Crosby notes is how the discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus challenged the intellectual systems of Christianity and Aristotelianism. Most notably, the discovery of a world that was, in fact, “new” was so contradictory to scholarly work of the past, such as Aristotle or found in the Bible, that assumptions were made on where to fit the New World into a Christian and Aristotelian world. For example, previous findings under Aristotle, which were still utilized into the 15th Century, had “quite logically supposed the equatorial zone of
He introduces the book with the concept of parasites and their role in balancing human population growth and their rise in the food chain or how he puts it “compensatory adjustments by other forms of life hemmed in human communities in such a tough and complex way that even after fully human skills had been achieved, the new efficiency attainable through cultural evolution was not sufficient to overpower and revolutionize the ecological system within which humanity evolved.” Interestingly McNeill gives agency to viruses and even distinguishes them as a safety measure preventing humanity from destroying the ecological balance of the world. Throughout Plagues and Peoples, McNeill tracks migration patterns, new points of contact, and warfare across countries and continents and how epidemic outbreak patterns correspond with major events.
One question posed by the authors is “How did Columbus’s relationship with the Spanish crown change over time, and why?” In simple terms, Columbus’s relationship with the
As we all know from the memorable song, in 1492 Columbus sailed to find the New World, commonly known as the Americas. Many idolize Columbus for his accomplishment in colonizing the Americas and starting the Columbian Exchange. The Columbian Exchange is the sharing of plants, animals, diseases, human populations, technology, and ideas between the Western and Eastern Hemispheres as a direct result of Columbus’ arrival to the Americas. However, we often oversee the downfalls of the Columbian Exchange. Some consequences of the exchange are the spread of disease to the Native people and settlers, the destruction of the Native population, and the disappearance of the Natives custom’s, beliefs, and way of life.
Beginning in the fifteenth century with the arrival of Columbus, natives of the Americas were infected with European diseases that proved to be deadly to the Indians. The population in northern Mexico suffered an immense decimation of 2,500,000 peoples to less than 320,000 by the end of the sixteenth century (Vargas, 30). The Spaniards’ cruel treatment of the natives aided this vast reduction in the Aztec and Mexican population, enabling the Spaniards to conquer the lands of the Aztecs and other native tribes. By the end of the sixteenth century, the Spaniards had expanded their conquests into the southwest region of what is now known as the United States of America.
The Columbian exchange was the widespread transfer of various products such as animals, plants, and culture between the Americas and Europe. Though most likely unintentional, the byproduct that had the largest impact from this exchange between the old and new world was communicable diseases. Europeans and other immigrants brought a host of diseases with them to America, which killed as much as ninety percent of the native population. Epidemics ravaged both native and nonnative populations of the new world destroying civilizations. The source of these epidemics were due to low resistance, poor sanitation, and inadequate medical knowledge- “more die of the practitioner than of the natural course of the disease (Duffy).” These diseases of the new world posed a serious
Columbian Exchange or the big exchange was a great exchange on a wide range of animals (Horses, Chickens, sheep, swine, Turkey), plants (Wheat, barley, corn, beans, tomatoes), people and culture, infectious diseases, and ideas, technology (Wheeled vehicles, iron tools, metallurgy) all these things happened between Native Americans and from Europe after the voyage of Christopher Columbus in 1492. Resulting in communication between the two cultures to initiate a number of crops that have led to the increase in population in both hemispheres, where the explorers returned to Europe loaded with corn, tomatoes, potatoes, which has become one of the main crops in Eurasia with the solutions of the eighteenth century. At the same time, the Europeans crops, cassava and peanuts to Southeast Asia with a tropical climate.
William H. McNeill makes a monumental contribution to the knowledge of humanity in his book Plagues and Peoples. He looks at the history of the world from an ecological point of view. From this viewpoint the history of human civilization is greatly impacted by changing patterns of epidemic infection. Plagues and Peoples suggests that "the time scale of world history...should [be] viewed [through] the "domestication" of epidemic disease that occurred between 1300 and 1700" (page 232). "Domestication" is perceived "as a fundamental breakthrough, directly resulting from the two great transportation revolutions of that age - one by land, initiated by the Mongols, and one by sea, initiated by Europeans" (page 232). This book illustrates how man's environment and its resident diseases have controlled human migration, as well as societal successes and failures. McNeill discusses the political, demographical, and psychological effects of disease on the human race. He informs his audience that epidemics are still a viable threat to society, and warns of potential future consequences.
In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue. However, even after centuries later, little is truly known of the mysterious voyage and findings of the new world.1 By examining “Letter from Columbus to Luis Santangel”, one can further contextualize the events of Columbus' exploration of the New World. The letter uncovers Columbus' subtle hints of his true intentions and exposes his exaggerated tone that catered to his lavish demands with Spain. Likewise, The Columbian Voyage Map read in accordance with the letter helps the reader track Columbus' first, second, third, and fourth voyage to the New World carefully and conveniently. Thus, the letter and map's rarity and description render invaluable insight into Columbus' intentionality of the New World and its indigenous inhabitants.
Microbes from Europe introduced new diseases and produced devastating epidemics that swept through the native populations (Nichols 2008). The result from the diseases brought over, such as smallpox, was a demographic catastrophe that killed millions of people, weakened existing societies, and greatly aided the Spanish and Portuguese in their rapid and devastating conquest of the existing American empires (Brinkley 2014). Interaction took place with the arrival of whites and foreigners. The first and perhaps most profound result of this exchange was the imp...
Imagine Christopher Columbus sailing into unknown waters across unchartered territories. The year is 1492 and Christopher Columbus was on a ship only 110 feet in length. His intended target was the eastern coast of Asia with its magnificent cities and harbors brimming with untold wealth. Approximately 70 days into his journey, instead of finding the bustling harbors and cities of Asia, he finds himself in an inhospitable, undeveloped land, inhabited by strange people, speaking a language he did not understand. Unknown to Christopher Columbus, the fledgling trade routes of the Columbian Exchange were founded; bringing with it unimaginable wealth, but also the unintended
The immediate cause of the European voyages of discovery was the conquest of Constantinople by the Ottoman Turks in 1453. While Egypt and Italian city-state of Venice was left with a monopoly on ottoman trade for spices and eastern goods it allowed Portugal and Spain to break the grip by finding an Atlantic route. Portugal took the lead in the Atlantic exploration because of the reconquest from the Muslims, good finances, and their long standing seafaring traditions. In dealing with agriculture, The Portuguese discovered Brazil on accident, but they concentrated on the Far East and used Brazil as a ground for criminals. Pernambuco, the first area to be settled, became the world’s largest sugar producer by 1550. Pernambuco was a land of plantations and Indian slaves. While the market for sugar grew so did the need for slaves. Therefore the African Slave start became greatly into effect. Around 1511 Africans began working as slaves in the Americas. In 1492, Columbus embarked on his voyage from Spain to the Americas. The Euro...
Researchers now believe that Europeans within the New World had naturally evolving immune systems, allowing their biological systems to fight off diseases, unlike within the Old World and the native American tribes, their immune systems had not evolved independently. The biological affect upon the Old World could be seen as a curse left upon their soil by Columbus in 1492. Lives shortened, futures denied, battles and fights against the unrelenting bacteria and microbial, that would continue on for decades preventing their immune systems to independently resist the invisible death sentence that floated amongst
This also brought infectious diseases into the New World that happened to decrease the Native American population. But the positive side to this is it allowed the Old and New World to exchange foods, which happened to change the European diet in a good way. When I was younger, I remember learning about the Columbian Exchange, but I was only taught about how Christopher discovered America, never about the diseases and how it opened food exchanges. One of the diseases that was brought down was smallpox. It ended up killing a majority of the Native American population. Other diseases that were brought from the voyages were measles, influenza, bubonic plague, chicken pox, whooping cough, and many more. Unfortunately, these diseases were brought into the New World without any cure or immunity. Thankfully, to the vaccinations we have now, I haven’t had any of these, including the chicken
The Columbian exchange was the exchange of goods and products that occurred when the Europeans came to America. Some of the items exchanged included potatoes and tomatoes, which originated in America, and wheat and rice, which originated in Europe. Because of this exchange, certain dishes are possible to be made. For example, tomatoes are a popular ingredient in Italian dishes, but they originated in America. Because of the Columbian exchange, Italians were able to adapt tomatoes to be included in their dishes. Similarly, there are many dishes which also cannot be possible without the exchange. This will go in-depth into a few dishes and see if they could be made without the Columbian exchange.