james+macdonnell

James MacDonnell  ** Was the Columbian Exchange Bad or Good for the World? **  ** In 1491 Europe was a mess. It was running out wood, space, and most foods. The next year an explorer named Christopher Columbus unintentionally found the new world. ** ** This new world seemed to have an infinite amount of resources. There were trees further than you could see, the rivers had so many fish you could barely see the water, and there was a lot of space to settle in this new world. ** ** After word reached Spain of this great discovery, more and more settlers and explorers poured into the Americas. They brought with them animals, plants, and diseases to the new world. The natives were being killed by the diseases and the conquistadores, so with all this empty land the settlers re-built it and settled in. ** ** The settlers brought their trees that grew much better in the Americas than in Europe, giving them more food. The potato was sent back to Europe and it made the biggest impact on Europe. It spread all throughout Europe giving most of the population food. ** ** The horses that the Spanish brought over helped not only them but the Native Americans. Horses ran wild and were captured by the Natives. They used them as transportation. 350 years after Columbus’ second voyage there were over seven million mustangs in North America. ** ** The Columbian Exchange saved Europe. The new world is then times bigger than Europe stopping over population. Europe had no wood so they couldn’t start firs to cook and keep warm, but there was so much wood in the new world they shipped it back to Europe and still had enough for themselves. If not for the Columbian Exchange Europe would have ran out of resources and they wouldn’t of made all of the great discoveries they did. **