The Columbian Exchange

Paper Summary:

The paper discusses the Columbian Exchange, the term used to refer to the transfer of various elements between the New World and Europe. The paper discusses the positive elements like the exchange of foodstuffs and agricultural products and methods as well as the negative elements, such as the introduction of disease.

From the Paper:

"Columbus and his men introduced diseases into the New World which killed thousands of Indians who were not immune to organisms that had long since ceased to have any adverse effects on the Europeans. This as well is blamed on Columbus, though clearly he could not have known that this would be the result of his visit, even if he had known that he was arriving in a completely New World and not in India as he first believed. Europe was affected by such devastating illnesses as leprosy, ergotism, scurvy, cholera, smallpox, measles, diphtheria, typhus, tuberculosis, and influenza. These diseases were deadly on a scale it is difficult to imagine. There were some diseases in the New World before Columbus, and people did die from them."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Crosby, Alfred W. Ecological Imperialism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986.
• Beezley, Bill. "The Global Market from and to the Americas." University of Arizona (November 23, 2004), http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:uKRvc_4yeu4J:las.arizona.edu/outreach/complete_curriculum_units/taste_of_LA/Taste%2520of%2520LA%2520Handouts.pdf+%22columbian+exchange%22+food&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us.
• Hodge, F. "Disabled American Indians: A Special Population Requiring Special Considerations." American Indian Culture and Research Journal 13 (1988), 83-104.
• Sale, Kirkpatrick. The Conquest of Paradise. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1990.
• Stannard, David E. American Holocaust. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992.

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