The Columbian Exchange: Biological and Cultural Consequences of 1492

The Columbian Exchange persists in the modern world as the population of Indigenous American people continues to suffer marginalization, poverty, and disenfranchisement and epidemics continue. Modern medicine successfully curbed the impact of some diseases, like syphilis, which can now be treated thanks to the discovery of penicillin. The exchange of flora and fauna between regions of the world continues with mixed results. Many plants that are indigenous to the Americas have been wiped out, while imported crops like sugar, bananas, wheat, and coffee support population growth. However, these changes caused environmental degradation and erosion of land than cannot be undone.

European colonization of the Americas resulted in the creation of new nations but the destructions of Indigenous societies and the arrival of enslaved peoples who were taken from their homes in Africa by force. As Indigenous populations declined due to disease and brutal forced labor, colonizers began to enslave African people to replace them in the mines and in the sugar harvest: “Almost 90 percent of the Africans who were torn from their homes to serve as [enslaved people] in America were brought to the tropics of the New World, 38 percent to Brazil, and 42 percent to the Antilles alone” (213).

Most Europeans arrived in the Americas in the 19th and 20th centuries as populations grew, which “made it more and more difficult to obtain even a small plot of ground, and the early industrial revolution made wages low and unemployment frequent […]” (214). The introduction of new crops from the Americas that improved nutrition, combined with improved sanitation and effective government administrations, all contributed to Europe’s demographic explosion. As Europeans migrated to other parts of the world, there was room for more population growth in Europe. European emigration “created giant markets for European manufacturers and, thus, a return of enormous profits to Europe” (217). Modern Europe would be far less wealthy without these colonial markets.

Crosby concludes that the biological impact of the Columbian Exchange is not a positive one. Humans both purposely and unintentionally transformed the world. The exchange contributed to mass extinction of various forms of life: “The flora and fauna of the Old and especially the New World have been reduced and specialized by man” (219). The ecological imperialism initiated by the Columbian Exchanged perpetuated death, disease, and the continued deterioration of ecological and biological conditions.