The large-scale transfer of every part of a lifestyle between two completely different places has shown to have its benefits and downfalls. Crosby explores an event coined, The Columbian Exchange, that connected two different sides of the world. Crosby claims that the exchange of disease, animals, and plants changed the entire landscape of the world and has a profound effect on the world today. He speaks of the decimation of the native peoples in his piece. One of his biggest claims is: “all of the life on this planet, are the less for Columbus”. While making that claim, he fails to talk about the advances in medicine, food and population that were created to further advance society because of their association with the Columbian exchange. Medical advances came in means as simple as better hygiene in places in the world. While population growth in Europe blossomed through the late 18th and early 19th century because of the addition of New World crops in the Old World.
Crosby refers to an event, The Columbian Exchange, throughout his book The Columbian Exchange: Biological and Cultural Consequences of 1492. His book was considered to be a revolutionary study, when it was released changing the way that people had looked at the transfer of lifestyles between the Americas and Europe. He was the one who coined it the Columbian exchange, naming it after the explorer Christopher Columbus. The Columbian Exchange was an exchange of crops, animals, culture, human peoples, technology, and ideas between the Americas (New World) and other parts of the world (Old World). This exchange began in the 15th century and lasted into the 16th century. The social and cultural makeup of each side was severely affected by this trade. This exchange helped to spread diseases into the New World that proceeded to decimate the population of the Native American people. It is said that anywhere between 80-95% of the Native population was killed in the 100 years following the landing of Columbus.
One of the largest elements within Crosby’s book is the discussion of the origin of Syphilis and the way that it affected people in the Old and New World Europeans. Crosby acknowledges the deaths that Syphilis causes but he doesn’t talk about how it affect other elements in the world. Crosby lays out an important positive trend that came from the spreading of syphilis in this text: “Public baths went out of style, for it was widely realized that many as innocent of promiscuity as newborn babes had contracted the French disease in such places. The use of the common drinking cup fell out of style.” Crosby overlooks the fact that syphilis was creating better hygiene in France. It was one of the reasons that people had become more aware of their hygiene habits. The elimination of the common drinking cup helped to end the spread of more diseases than just syphilis. Syphilis didn’t directly change these things but helped as one of the reasons that French hygiene was able to improve and lower the rate of syphilis transmission.
Crosby mentions the plants that came from the old world like potatoes but he fails to expand upon it to and talk about the advancement caused by them. They both were one of the reasons that European population grew heavily during the 18th and 19th centuries. The potato is said One of the first seen impacts in Europe was during the War of the Spanish Succession. The great famine of 1709 challenged both armies leading to them eating less than appealing foods. These soldiers took the potato with joy, it had much more substance than what they had been eating. The potatoes took a lot less time than grain only taking about three months compared to the ten months that grain take. This provided the people of Europe with a quicker alternative to grain that gave substance within a diet. The impact it had was immense because it allowed for a fully sustainable diet using only potatoes. In The Columbian Exchange:A History of Disease, Food, and Ideas it states: “Humans can actually subsist healthily on a diet of potatoes, supplemented with only milk or butter, which contain the two vitamins not provided by potatoes, vitamins A and D.” Potatoes had all the traits that were favorable for Europeans, it grew quickly, sustained an entire diet and grew in their lands. Potatoes weren’t the only plant that helped play a part in fueling the rampant population growth that was happening in Europe. Maize first came to Europe in Seville, it was passed along to the portuguese. They were the first to plant significant amounts of Maize, after that it spread across Europe as it was planted in Southern France and in Venice. Maize had a great effect in Europe as it was easy to grow. Many places that failed to grow other crops like wheat could be used to grow Maize. But the reception of Maize was not totally positive, in many places the wealthy refused it. The main consumers of Maize ended up being the lower class citizens. It did help to supply those citizens with a reliable crop that consistently supplied them with good yields.
These two crops aided in the