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The Columbian Exchange: The Columbian Exchange

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Plants: Sugarcane was discovered long before Columbus arrived in the Americas, but it was difficult to cultivate in the poor European crop fields.The production of sugarcane flourished in the New World under the plantation systems in Cuba, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, and soon South America. Sugarcane became an essential part of Europeans’ diets and profit margin; in the New World, many of the conquerors such as Columbus enslaved the native people to cultivate the land. Used in almost every food and drink thereafter, people became addicted, making it one of the largest cash crops in history. Other than sugarcane, Maize is probably the most important of all the New World crops derived from the Columbian Exchange. Maize started in America, but was quickly transported to Europe and successfully cultivated in various regions. Maize helped supplement European diets to keep a steady healthy population. The combination of maize with already used European crop products sustained great population growth, especially after the Black Death and helped to rebuild Europe.

Diseases: Smallpox was one of the most deadly diseases brought to the …show more content…
Before guns, Native Americans used items such as spears, hatchets and bows and arrows as weapons for hunting and fishing game. Bow and arrows allowed the Natives to hunt animals, but the gun enabled them to hunt even bigger game, game that would not be taken down by an arrow. With the cooperation of horses, Natives used horses as a vessel of transportation to increase their hunting probability by giving Natives the opportunity to track down their large game and keep up with its speed. The advantages of guns and knives for the Natives were enticing, leading them to start up a trade post with the Europeans for firearms and other weapons in exchange for goods and crops produced by the labor of the

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