The Columbian Exchange And The Colonization Of America Essay
The Columbian Exchange refers to the exchange of diseases, ideas, food crops, and populations between the New World and the Old World following the voyage to the Americas by Christopher Columbus in 1492. While some had cataclysmic results for the indigenous populations, other interactions led to exchanges of ideas and resources. These exchanges altered life on both sides of the Atlantic. In North America many native cultures had lived and thrived across the continent. Meanwhile, in Europe, the thirst for knowledge and discovery had led to a competition among.
European nations to establish and dominate trade routes to acquire the exotic resources of Asia. Each country began to finance voyages of exploration to see who could find a quick and profitable trade route. Spain, England, the Netherlands and France began to travel west, across the Atlantic, to places that were unknown, at that time, to Europeans.