Ari+Sharp

By: Ari Sharp
===Was the Columbian exchange good, or bad? Well really, it all depends on whos point of view we’re looking at. From the natives view, it was horrible, however from the Europeans point of view, it was amazing. Two very different opinions, so how can they both be from the same idea? Lets look at the Europeans first. It’s the late 1400’s. Your family is dying of disease, the country is squished and everyone is running out of land. Life seems pretty grim. Then you hear that there’s an amazing amount of land in the Americas. Your family packs up and hits the boats. You bring everything and plan to settle in the Americas. You bring seeds, pigs, horses, cows, sheep, everything. You settle down and have more space then you could ever imagine. On top of that you find new things in the new world, like corn, turkey and tobacco. Seems great, and for you, it is. Now lets take a peek at the natives of these wonderful lands. Its before the Europeans come to the lands. You have luxurious crops, great hunting skills and no sickness. When all of the sudden, new people come hoping to settle down. You welcome them and teach them many skills, in return you are given a few weapons and horses. Seems fair so you let them stay without many problems. Then more come, they start to hunt your food, and you can no longer depend on your crops because their animals referred to as ‘pigs’ are eating all your crops. You start to get ill from the rats that come with these foreigners. Weeds begin to spread. And everyone around you is dying either from illness, or starvation. So, was the Columbian Exchange actually that great? Was it worth almost killing a entire race of humans, just for some extra space? It doesn’t seem quite as amazing anymore, does it?===