The Columbian Exchange was one of the most important things in history. It was effective for the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Africa. But for those who do not know what the Columbian Exchange is, it was a time when all the countries came together, and introduced new things to each other. But, along with the positive effects, negative effects were sure to be found later on. But what are those connotations for the Columbian Exchange. Well, there were many positive effects, but one really negative one, that was only solved for a little bit in our country, recently.


The positive effects of the exchange were the food. Different types of food were passed around the countries, and one of the major ones was tomatoes. Originally, the Italians never had tomatoes. But, once they were introduced to it, they discovered they loved it, and it's now a key ingredient in whatever they make. Another really positive connotation were the animals. Many places had never seen all the animals the Spanish had, and once the Spaniards brought them over, everyone got to see them. Another good thing is the technology. Guns and steel were brought to Africa, and lots of other weaponry and technology, too. But, there was that one negative connotation.


During this time, Native Americans were forced into slavery, because they had darker skin than that of the Europeans. But, somebody noticed that they had been dying to often, and to solve the problem, a European explorer decided that because the Native Americans had been dying, they would make the Africans do all the slave work. That really didn't solve anything at all. So, the negative connotation of the Columbian Exchange was slavery and racism that had begun. The only reason they chose Africans, is because they had darker skin than the Europeans.


So, along with all the goos connotations of the Columbian Exchange, it did have its major bad ones too. The good things that were passed along were the food, animals, and technology. The major bad things that were passed along were slavery and racism. The Columbian Exchange was indeed one of the major things that occurred in our history, and was a turning point, because of all the other historical events that followed afterwards.




**All info from Holt 7th grade History Textbook**



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