The Colombian Exchange was very important in the sense that it increased the biodiversity of both North America and Europe. Thanks to the Colombian Exchange, Europe received many vegetables from the New World such as potatoes and squash. The increase of vitamins into the European diet led to an increased European population, thus creating more settlers wanting to leave Europe for a hopefully better life in the Americas. Native Americans also benefited somewhat from some imported species. The horse made the Sioux one of the strongest tribes on the North American Plains and facilitated their buffalo hunts. This in turn led to an increase in the population of Sioux.
Some aspects of the Colombian Exchange were quite tragic, however. European diseases such as smallpox and dysentery wiped out entire tribes. These diseases helped Cortes defeat the Aztec empire with only a handful of conquistadors and Indian allies. European animals also...
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disrupted the native habitat as well. The Europeans did not see native agriculture as intentional when in reality gardeners today would see it as companion planting. The Europeans turned their livestock into what they thought were weeds, thus creating tension between the natives and the settlers. European animals also transmitted diseases to native animals—all of this at a time before vaccinations. This mixing of biology had ramifications for the societies of both Europeans and Americans.
Why was the Columbian Exchange important globally?
The Columbian Exchange was hugely important to many different areas of the world. It brought benefits to some people and harmed other people tremendously. Let us look at two of the most important impacts of the Columbian Exchange.
The first of these is a positive impact. It was enjoyed by the people of Europe. The Columbian Exchange included the exchange of plants and animals between the Old World and the New. The Old World benefitted greatly from New World plants. Though we now know tobacco is harmful, people at the time would have thought that getting tobacco from the New World was a good thing. They would also have enjoyed new plants such as tomatoes and potatoes. They would also have come to enjoy chocolate, which comes from a New World tree.
The second of these is a much more negative impact that was felt by the people of the New World. It is true that they got new animals. The most important of these was the horse. However, the most impactful import was germs. Eurasian germs caused massive epidemics among the American peoples. Huge percentages of the natives died from exposure to diseases to which they had no resistance.
In these ways, the Columbian Exchange had different impacts on different areas of the world.