According to the Big History Project
About 10,000 years ago to about 500 years ago, the rising seas level at the end of the last ice age divided the world into four non-connected geographic zones:
- Afro-Eurasia: Africa and the Eurasian landmass, including offshore islands like Britain and Japan - The Americas: North, Central, and South America, plus offshore islands like the Caribbean Islands - Australasia: Australia and the island of Papua New Guinea, plus neighboring islands in the Pacific Ocean - The Pacific Islands: societies such as New Zealand, Micronesia, Melanesia, Hawaii |
When you compare the four zones, it’s easy to see the advantages that people living in Afro-Eurasia had over the other regions.
Its people had a head start with the earliest human habitation, the greatest geographic area, and the largest population. Afro-Eurasia also had the most varied resources, the largest networks of collective learning and diverse information. Afro - Eurasia was the first region that had the earliest agriculture in Fertilize Crescent and the first agrarian civilization in Mesopotamia. Afro - Eurasia also covered ancient day and present-day Europe. |
Isolated from one another, four groups of people developed distinct ways of life and conducted their own experiments in human culture. However, after the voyage of Christopher Columbus from Spain to the Americas, every had changed.Therefore,....
Thanks to the Columbus Voyage, the four world zones finally became connected.
Let have a look at Columbia Exchange ...
Benefits of Columbian Exchange Plants and Animals that Moved Across the Atlantic, 1500 — 1650
According to historians and many ecological experts, the Columbian Exchange has brought about a revolution and evolution in creating a new species altogether.
For instance, the shift of donkey, chicken, cow, water buffalo, horse, honey bee and others to the New World created a new pattern of growth and development among animals. Among the plants, the likes of almond, apple, banana, black pepper, cardamom, carrot, coffee and others were taken to the New World and a new system began to prevail. Plants from the Americas quickly had a positive impact in Europe, Asia, and Africa. According to the McNeills, maize (corn), cassava (manioc) and potatoes had a very great effect on people’s diets in Africa, Europe, and Asia. Each crop grew fast, withstood droughts well, was easy to store, and gave very high yield in calories.
Therefore, people in Europe, Africa, and Asia were able to grow these effectively and these crops increased the variety of food people could eat as well as providing them far more energy than other plants. Maize, cassava, and potatoes, along with other American plants such as peanuts, tomatoes, and beans soon spread throughout the world. |
Things that moved east:
From the Americas to Afro-Eurasia
|
Things that moved west:
From Afro-Eurasia to the Americas
|
In contrast,
After the voyage of Christopher Columbus in 1492, there was a massive death that about 50 - 90 % of Native Americans died out both in South America and north America, not only because the commitment of killing tons of people for gold of Christopher but also the introduction of diseases to Native people.
Early American Indians didn't have any the immune protection in their bodies which also answered why they and their bodies were completely new with diseases. Therefore in 1492, when Christopher Columbus first arrived in America, he brought along various men that were infected with innumerable old world diseases such as smallpox, malaria, measles, flu, malaria. These old world diseases came into the new world.
Look at the table above again, things that moved west also contained:
Otherwise, with these new diseases, the number of people who farmed died which lead to the decline of farming and food that the people who were sick didn’t have food to eat. After that, they got starvation, malnourished which lead them to even more sickness and eventually their deaths.
However, not only these old world diseases affect the entire culture of American Indians in a number of ways but also Christopher Columbus himself.
After the voyage of Christopher Columbus in 1492, there was a massive death that about 50 - 90 % of Native Americans died out both in South America and north America, not only because the commitment of killing tons of people for gold of Christopher but also the introduction of diseases to Native people.
Early American Indians didn't have any the immune protection in their bodies which also answered why they and their bodies were completely new with diseases. Therefore in 1492, when Christopher Columbus first arrived in America, he brought along various men that were infected with innumerable old world diseases such as smallpox, malaria, measles, flu, malaria. These old world diseases came into the new world.
Look at the table above again, things that moved west also contained:
- Earthworms
- Smallpox
- Measles
- Influenza
- Malaria
Otherwise, with these new diseases, the number of people who farmed died which lead to the decline of farming and food that the people who were sick didn’t have food to eat. After that, they got starvation, malnourished which lead them to even more sickness and eventually their deaths.
However, not only these old world diseases affect the entire culture of American Indians in a number of ways but also Christopher Columbus himself.
Religion
Christopher Columbus and his voyage team were all Catholic by birth. They had been specifically instructed by the “Spanish Crown” to set up various missions in order to make the message of Christianity known to the Americans. The American Indians were known to worship wolf spirits, rain gods and corn gods. Christopher Columbus used several brutal methods to spread Christianity. This is when the American Indians rebelled. However, most of them were killed, while the rest were captured. Culture A huge change in culture was witnessed after the arrival of Christopher Columbus. Before his arrival, the American Indians lived freely. The men remained naked while the women wore a small piece of cloth just on their bottoms. However, later on, Christopher Columbus introduced clothes such as trousers, hats, and shirts. The old world customs of meditation and dance were also altered by him. Technology Before the Columbian Exchange started, the Americans manufactured and utilised several stone tools. These tools included agricultural tools, arrows and stone knives. However, after the Columbian Exchange began, several guns were introduced in the markets. During this time, the Columbian Exchange gained immense popularity. It was a simple method of exchange of plants, animals, human populations, slaves and culture. The introduction of guns was really deadly as the people didn’t know how to operate guns. However, the introduction of iron agricultural tools really helped the American Indians a great deal. => It can be easily concluded that Christopher Columbus had a solid impact on the lives and culture of the American Indians for a long period of time. |
Christopher Columbus has had a strong impact on the lives of American Indians. |
Reference to: http://bit.ly/1bfQ7bC