The significance of the Columbus’ discovery cannot be underestimated, as it is one of the most momentous events in the history of the Americas as well as the whole world. The primary accomplishment of Columbus was revolutionizing the lives of people across all the continents he traveled to – Americas, Asia, Africa, and, of course, his homeland continent – Europe. He managed to foster the exchange of ideas, cultures, lifestyles, populations, crops, and even diseases. However, even more paramount consequence of his travels was changing the structure of the European economy by affecting prices and international economic relations. These two phenomena of the global historical development are referred to as the Columbian Exchange and the Price Revolution.
The whole process of the Columbian Exchange is the clash of three civilizations – the developed Europeans, the Native Americans close to nature, and the progressive Asians. Even though the exchange of lifestyles involved, for the most part, people settling the New and the Old Worlds, the significance of the Asian civilization’s role should not be undervalued, as these were the Asians, who introduced compass, which was later used by Columbus during his voyage to the Americas, to the rest of the world.
There were several channels of the Columbian exchange. In general, they included agricultural products, populations, lifestyles, economic, etc. Before Columbus came to the Americas, the native people led simple lives living in cabins and, basically, in the woods, were cautious making no noise during the nights and fires for the sake of personal safety and avoiding enemies (Champlain1 79). Unlike the Native Americans, Europeans lived in the well-developed civilization enjoying higher levels of educational and economic development. It was Columbus, who brought the desire for changing the lifestyles and building up modern civilization to the Americas.
The populations channel was characterized by the migration from the Old to the New World. Because the America were attractive with their vast unsettled lands, the authorities of the Old World saw it as the perfect opportunity for increasing their influence in the world as well as cleaning the European community because it is not a secret that, for the most part, these were the criminals, poor, and diseased, who were sent to settle the New World and develop it.
That said, migration was both voluntary and forced (Nunn and Qian 181). Sending out the worst and lowest social groups was the example of the forced migration2. At the same time, there were those, who desired to move to the Americas because they believed that it might become their chance to improve their lives and become wealthier. This form of migration was voluntary.
Another channel of the Columbian exchange was the exchange of agricultural goods3. Some of them included species such as chili peppers and products like potatoes, maize, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, cocoa, coffee, oranges, bananas, cassava, sugar, soybeans, peanuts, and many others (Nunn and Qian 167). Introducing these goods to Europeans was not only the source of nutritious and caloric improvements but also supplemented cuisines making them more locally specific. For example, tomatoes have become one of the most frequently used products in Italy and Mediterranean countries while chili peppers gave rise to paprika popular in Hungary.
One of the most significant channels of exchange was the economic one. First of all, because the Americas had fertile soils and were rich in new products, Europe exploited it as the source for increasing its economic power supplying agricultural goods to the rest of the world and using lands for growing them for commercial purposes. Except for fertile soils, the American land was rich in precious metals becoming the source of silver and gold.
Of course, due to the higher volumes of supply, the prices for metals and food products became lower. Over time, it led to inflation, which whelmed Spain and other European countries with inflation. This change in the economies is known as the Price Revolution. Its primary reason was initially high prices for the goods imported from the New World and lowering the prices once the supply grew.
Bearing in mind the channels of the Columbian Exchange, it should be said that it had both positive and negative consequences. As of the positive implications, it has changed Europeans’ eating habits making them more healthy and interesting. Also, it contributed to cleaning the European community, as the lowest social groups were sent to settle the New World. However, at the same time, it was a negative consequence, if viewing it from the American perspective.
Moreover, it has become the foundation for building the developed civilization in the Americas. However, there were particular drawbacks. First of all, Native Americans obtained diseases such as plaque, chicken pox, small pox, and other infectious illnesses in return of new products. In addition to it, Europeans4 viewed the Native Americans as lower people and treated them unequally seeing them as a workforce (Shaffer 20). Still, even though the Columbian Exchange had some negative effects, it, in fact, has become the source for the global integration and creating the global economy by providing the background for the development of migration and international trade.
Works Cited
Champlain, Samuel de. “Going to War with the Hurons.” Voyages of Samuel de Champlain. Ed. William Lawson Grant. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1907. 79-86. Print.
Nunn, Nathan, and Nancy Qian. “The Columbian Exchange: A History of Disease, Food, and Ideas.” Journal of Economic Perspectives 24.2 (2010): 163-188. Print.
Shaffer, Lynda. “Southernization.” Journal of World History 5.1 (1994): 1-21. Print.
Footnotes
- This source is interesting because the author provides details obtained from the personal experience.
- Another example of the forced migration was sending people from Africa to the Americas. It gave the rise to slavery.
- The format of this transition was unidirectional because new products were introduced to the Old World, not to the Americas.
- Especially the entrepreneurs from France, Portugal, and Netherlands.