One of the main consequences of the great maritime navigations of the 15th and 16th centuries was the creation of a large world market for the exchange of various goods produced in different parts of the planet. The process of creating this market, which began with the arrival of Christopher Columbus to America, it had consequences other than trade. In the biological aspect, the trips made after Columbus' feat changed significantly eating habits, agricultural production, use of geographic spaces and also the health of people.
This information can be found in the works of Alfred W. Crosby, who coined the term Colombian Exchange, and Charles C. Mann, in your book 1943: How Interchange Between the New and the Old World Shaped Today, which deal with the consequences triggered by the creation of a market network between various parts of the globe.
In terms of food, the sending of cultivated vegetables originating in America to be produced in Europe, Asia and Africa has changed the eating habits of these populations. regions, creating in many cases food stability, providing new foods to be cultivated and consumed by these populations, whose efforts for its production could be minors.
Examples can be found with the production of potatoes, corn and sweet potatoes, which changed the diet of Europeans and Asians, and which, in the case of the Chinese, may have provided significant growth populational. In Africa, the spread of maize and cassava has also generated food stability similar to that in Europe and Asia. However, this did not necessarily mean the end of hunger among these populations, but they started to cultivate new foods, which would have improved the situation compared to the period when these foods were not produced. These were food and agricultural changes brought about by Columbus' travels.
But the arrival of the Genoese navigator to America provided the natives of the New Continent with contact with a multitude of microorganisms that were not known to them. The most striking example was smallpox, which did not exist on the American continent and was brought to the Europeans. The result was the extermination of the Amerindian population through disease rather than through war. The lack of knowledge about the causes of the diseases meant that the indigenous people did not isolate the sick in order to avoid contagion from the other inhabitants of a village. As they did not know that microorganisms were also transmitted through the air, when a village was infected, the disease spread, leading part of the inhabitants to seek refuge in another village, spreading disease and deaths.
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Deaths caused by the spread of diseases have left areas that were previously inhabited uninhabited. This situation may have created an erroneous view of the preservation of forests during colonization. Archaeological studies cited by the authors indicate that parts of forests that European settlers considered as untouched perhaps they were deforested areas, which were possibly re-established after the death of the inhabitants of the region. These hypotheses indicate that some places considered as virgin forests may in the past have been agricultural areas, with the removal of part of the forest by the indigenous people. This indicates actions of man on nature even before the action of Europeans.
The fact that the conquerors also brought animals that were domesticated in Europe also altered some indigenous practices. An example can be found among the Plains Indians of North America, who adopted nomadism to accompany the displacement of the bison herds.
These studies show that the changes caused by maritime voyages in the 16th century are still felt today, showing that the impact of contact between the inhabitants of different continents changed their ways of life, in addition to initiating an approximation of vast areas of the globe through the world market.
By Tales Pinto
Graduated in History
Would you like to reference this text in a school or academic work? Look:
PINTO, Tales of the Saints. "Influences of Colombian Exchange"; Brazil School. Available in: https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/historiag/influencias-intercambio-colombiano.htm. Accessed on June 27, 2021.
