Essay On The Columbian Exchange

The time of exploration for European countries caused an explosion of innovative thoughts. As new explorers such as Christopher Columbus, Hernán Cortés, and Francisco Pizarro came over to the New World, they brought with them new ideas, foodstuffs, animals, and many other things. These items were dispersed through the Columbian Exchange. The New and Old World collided, which soon resulted in different groups of people interacting. The Native Americans had to quickly understand and adapt to the unfamiliar people who docked their ships on the coastlines. The movement of English, French, and Spanish pioneers and their goods caused both European countries and the Americas to be changed forever.

Out of the English, French, and Spanish, the Spaniards

The Old World, many European countries, brought over animals such as horses, honey bees, sheep, and pigs. They also brought over the following: barley, wheat, peaches, pears, coffee beans, sugarcane, citrus fruits, steel, and bananas. Horses were vital to the natives and they soon learned how to ride and use horses to their advantage. Steel improved hunting, and sugarcane and coffee beans would later become vital to the America’s economy. The New World, North and South America, welcomed the pioneers with a plethora of new foodstuffs and goods. Some of the new items were as follows: pumpkins, turkeys, corn, tomatoes, peanuts, potatoes, tobacco, and cacao. Corn and potatoes were crucial to the New World once they were discovered. Corn was used as slave food on slave ships, and potatoes were a good nutrient source. While the Old and New World were the main components of the Columbian Exchange, Africa also played a part. They incorporated slaves into the mix once using indentured servants became tiresome. This entire trading and swapping of commodities was an effect of the clashing together of two different ways of