Two worlds colliding, the impact of transatlanic explorations after 1492 by Grace Mckendry

Every day we go about our routine and probably don't think too much about the origins of what we eat and how it might be historically significant. Perhaps for breakfast you might eat some avocado; for lunch, a turkey sandwich; and for dinner, mashed potatoes. You might finish the day with some chocolate. After all of this, you may not have considered that none of it would have been possible to acquire, in Europe before 1492. The Columbian Exchange is a phrase coined by Alfred Crosby in his book of the same title, which describes the movement of plants, animals, diseases and people from the ‘Old World’ of Afro Eurasia to the ’New World’ in the Americas. This exchange had a momentous impact on our world, changing cultures, populations, ecosystems and landscapes. When the European colonisers arrived in the Americas, they could not have imagined the different animals they would encounter. There were few animals that would have been familiar to them; the natives had few domesticated animals, and there were no large animals. European settlers brought with them pigs, sheep, cattle, horses and other domesticated animals. Many took well to the climate and multiplied quickly, eventually creating a wild population. These foreign animals had terrible effects on the ecosystem, leading to soil erosion, flooding and the extinction of native plants and animals. It is even believed that this further decreased the population of native peoples, as their food sources were destroyed by foreign animals.

The most irreversible and tragic outcome of the Columbian Exchange was the obliteration of the Native populations due to diseases. The natives of the Americas were cut off from the rest of the world and had not encountered many of the diseases the Europeans brought with them. These diseases proved much more fatal to the natives, who had no immunity. Diseases came in waves, and many native populations were already weakened before the settlers had a chance to exploit the people and their land. Great losses of inhabitants gave the Spanish a military advantage. By the time that Cortès arrived at the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan, they had already lost 100,000 of their population. It is believed that 80% of the population of the Americas died within the first 100 years of European settlement. There is no parallel of diseases brought back to Europe compared to those that devastated populations in the Americas. However, it has often been argued that syphilis only arrived in Europe after 1492. While this theory is now downplayed by many historians, a much more fatal illness was brought back, lung cancer, in the form of tobacco.

During Columbus' second voyage, the settlers brought many clippings with them to plant European crops, as they believed eating familiar foods would prevent illness caused by adapting to a new environment. Many of these crops flourished such as bananas and citrus fruits. Many crops grown by the Europeans in the Americas were cash crops, such as sugar, coffee and tobacco, luxury items which could be sent back to Europe for profit. The introduction of American crops to the ‘Old World’ led to an explosive population growth. Many of these foods had a much higher caloric and nutritional value than traditional Old World Crops. The most widely adopted were sweet potato, potato, maize, and cassava. Nowhere was the influence of these New World crops felt more than in Ireland. The potato is so high in caloric and nutritional value and grew so easily in small plots that it became the staple food in Ireland. One and a half acres of potato crops could feed an Irish family for a year. With the widespread adoption of the potato across Ireland, the country's population more than doubled from 1754 to 1845. Other American crops, such as chilli peppers, cacao, and tomatoes became important for flavouring dishes and became a significant part of local cuisines, such as, chillies used in curries in India. Many Old World countries have become intrinsically linked to foods that are native to the Americas. Today, tomatoes are synonymous with Italian food and traditions. They were first recorded in Italy in 1544, eaten with oil, salt, and pepper. The colonisation of the Americas had irreversible effects. Entire peoples and cultures were wiped out by disease and colonisation, ecosystems changed, and population growth in Europe led to further European settlement and increased exploitation of the native peoples and their land. The Columbian Exchange's impact is global, influencing everything from culture, the economy and how we live our lives. However, its effects have also been disastrous for the world.