When Christopher Columbus sailed back home from the Americas during his voyage during 1492 and 1493, Columbus would have not known that his items he possessed that were aboard his ship would revolutionize the world and shape the world as it is today. The Grand Exchange (also known as Columbian Exchange) is one of the most impactful events in history. This major event created a big effect on world ecology, agriculture, and culture. In the Grand Exchange there was enormous trade between the Old World and the New World. Many new and different goods were introduced all because of the exchanging between the two hemispheres. Christopher Columbus' voyage is what started contact between the Old and New Worlds with the outcome of …show more content…
The Native Americans were brought new crops and animals. The new crops and animals changed the way The America’s social and economic balance. After Christopher Columbus' 1942 voyage to the New World, Columbus opened up a new trade route. The New World and the Old World both had items that they both never seen before. When the voyagers go to the New World, they realized that they had crops that are not grown in the New World. Even the other way around, the New World had crops that the Old World did not grow, such as maize, potatoes, and tomatoes. Christopher Columbus’ goal was to develop a new field to benefit the America’s population. The field contained new food crops, such as wheat, barley, and rye. There was also New Mediterranean plantation crops that were exchanged from South and Southeast Asia and brought all the way to the Americas. At first, the crops grow as it was supposed to, and most grew poorly. However, the crops got used to Americas’ land and started to grow as they were supposed to. Plantation crops, including rice, cotton, and tobacco, started to grow in the Americas. The exchanging of slaves also helped. The blossoming of these crops in larger plantations formed the basis of the slave trade in America. The weather and climate in North America provided perfect conditions, which helped the growth of wheat. Eventually, wheat became the main and necessary basic food crop for millions of the American people. The …show more content…
The exchange transformed European, American, African, and Asian ways of life forever. Foods that had never been seen before by people became their basic daily diets, as new regions of crops emerged. Even the countries who are known for their staple foods today wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for the Grand Exchange. Tomato sauce from New World tomatoes then became an Italian trademark, coffee from Africa and sugar cane from Asia became the main crops of Latin America. The chili and paprika from South America was introduced in India by the Portuguese and still today a major part of the Indian cuisine. Before the Grand Exchange, there were no oranges in Florida, no bananas in Ecuador, no paprika in Hungary, no tomatoes in Italy, no pineapples in Hawaii, no cattle in Texas and no chocolate in Switzerland and so on. Not even foods and crops, but animals too. Before the Grand Exchange took place, there were few domesticated animals like turkeys, dogs, and guinea pigs. After the exchange, the main species of animals that were domesticated in the high Andes included the llamas and alpacas. In addition, the animals brought over from the Old World have changed and shaped the economy of the Americas. For example, Brazil and the United States are major producers of beef today. Animals from the Old World make up most of the meat consumption of the peoples of the Americas. All of