Institution Department Class Lecturer Student name Student number Assignment Due date

: Chu Hai College of Higher Education : English : Global History : Mr. James Walsh : Francis Chu Chi Fung : 201212234H : Essay 1 : 7/11/2013

3. Discuss the positive and negative consequences of the Columbian Exchange. What are the parallels (if any) with the globalization of today?

The Columbian Exchange in 1492 was truly revolutionary in that it brought people from different countries together for the first time in history. The influence of the Columbian Exchange on our world is profound: It created a widespread exchange of animals, plants, human populations, diseases and technology etc. In this essay, we will discuss the positive and negative consequences of the Columbian Exchange, as well as the parallels with the globalization of today.

As a result of the Columbian Exchange, the world population doubled from 1650 to 1850. This can be explained by the fact that the Columbian Exchange had enabled the exchange of foods between the old world and the new world. For instance, potatoes

were not grown outside of South America before 1000 AD. The Columbian exchange changed all that though. As potatoes were brought to the old world, it became a staple in many countries, such as Ireland. In fact, Ireland was so dependent on the potatoes that its population dropped significantly due to the potato famine in the 1840s. The reasons why new world foods such as potatoes and corns quickly became a stable in the old world are that they could grow in the soil that new world plants could hardly survive, and that new world foods in general were more caloric than that of the old world. To quote Alfred Crosby, author of the book The Columbian Exchange: Biological and Cultural Consequences of 1492, It is crudely true that if mans caloric intake is sufficient, he will somehow stagger to maturity, and he will reproduce. In short, since the Columbian Exchange, fewer people have starved and the world population have begun to balloon.

The Columbian exchange, however, also brought about negative consequences that are hard to neglect. For one, the Columbian Exchange was responsible for the transfer of infectious diseases between the old world and the new world. The population of the new world dropped dramatically as the Native Americans were not immune to the diseases such as smallpox, yellow fever, chicken pox etc., which originated from the old world. The old world was not exempt from the exchange of infectious diseases

either, as sailors from the old world brought back with them the infamous syphilis. The Columbian Exchange also created the problem of slavery. As the disease had killed most of the Native Americans, the Europeans enslaved the Africans so that they would have enough slaves to work the vast land that they had own. Despite the fact that slavery had been around since the dawn of time, the Columbian Exchange had exacerbated the problem by creating a demand for slaves (as a result of the deaths of tens of thousands of indigenous Americans) and therefore many more enslaved people than before. Invasive species of plants and pathogens were introduced to the new world, both intentionally and unintentionally. As it turned out, these plants and pathogens simply overwhelmed their counterparts in the new world. For instance, Fungi that were responsible for Dutch elm disease were transported to America, killing American elms in North American forests and cities. The invasive plants and pathogens altered the ecosystem of the old world dramatically, and it was never the same again.

The Columbian Exchange is widely recognized as the first attempt of globalization in human history. As such, it has some parallels with the globalization of today. For example, both encourage the exchange of once-localized diseases. As people are more mobile, meaning that they can travel to other countries, they would also carry their

diseases to their destination if they were sick. This situation is even more prevalent in the globalization of today, as an average person can really travel around the world in a matter of hours thanks to the invention of the aero plane. The ease of travelling with which modern technology empowers greatly encourages people to travel, thereby making the exchange of diseases that much more likely.

Whether the Columbian Exchange as a whole was beneficial or detrimental to us remains a topic to be debated. The great Alfred Crosby thinks it is detrimental to us. One thing is for sure however: the Columbian Exchange plays a huge role in how the world becomes what it is today; without it, the world as we know it today would not have exited.