The Columbian Exchange involved the exchange of goods, ideas, plants, animals, and technology across the Atlantic Ocean following Columbus's voyages of discovery. Along with the exchanges of these things, however, also came the exchange of disease. The arrival of new European diseases in the Americas had a tremendous negative effect on Native American populations. Diseases like smallpox, cholera, measles, and scarlet fever arrived with European explorers and conquerers. While Europeans had been exposed to these diseases for generations and had built up some immunity to them, Native Americans had never been exposed to these deadly diseases before. Due to lack of exposure to these diseases, Native Americans had built up no immunity to them. This meant epidemics that would kill millions of Native Americans and reduce their populations significantly. As a result of these epidemics and the destruction of many Native American populations, many Native American civilizations were left weakened and vulnerable to attack and eventual conquest by the Europeans.
When discussing the negative effects of the Colombian Exchange, the diseases and destruction that the old world brought tends to dominate the subject. Diseases such as smallpox, measles, and different strains of influenza were passed to the Natives from the Europeans. These Native Americans had not built up immunity to these viruses. Between 1500 and 1650, millions of Natives died as a result of these diseases.
Another negative effect was the exploitation of people for slave labor. As gold and silver mines began to be discovered and Native laborers died off, the Europeans looked to Africa as a source of slave laborers. Tobacco and corn farms were also built, all of this on the backs of slaves.
Thinking back on the diseases, animals in the new world were also devastated. These diseases nearly wiped out native animals. Moreover, the Europeans brought rats to the Americas, which caused massive destruction, especially on small islands.
https://sites.google.com/site/columbianexchangeinformation/negatives
https://www.econedlink.org/wp-content/uploads/legacy/1291_Activity%2020_2.pdf
The Columbian Exchange involved the flow of animals, plants, technology, and concepts from the Old World to the Americas and vice versa following Columbus's explorations. Some of the negative effects of the exchange included the diseases, like smallpox and influenza, that Europeans brought to the "New World." The Native Americans had no prior exposure to these diseases and had not built up any immunity. As a result, these diseases were deadly to them and decimated their populations.
The Europeans also brought the system of slavery from the Old World. They first tried to enslave Native Americans and then later turned to imposing a ruthless system of slavery on Africans. Slaves were exploited to grow tobacco, sugar, rice, and other crops, and this system kept black people in shackles for centuries.
The negative effects of the Columbian Exchange were experienced almost exclusively by the indigenous peoples of the Americas. By far the most dramatic, and tragic, consequence of the exchange were the epidemics that raged across the Americas as Native peoples came in contact with European diseases (typhus, smallpox, mumps, plague, influenza and many others) to which they had no immunity whatsoever. Some demographic historians have estimated that the death toll of these epidemics may have risen to ninety percent of the pre-contact Native American population. This catastrophe was made even worse by the fact that it facilitated the conquest of Indian peoples and the settlement of the continent by Europeans. Another part of the Columbian Exchange was the introduction of Eurasian flora and fauna into the Americas. Hogs in particular were devastating to Native crops, destroying the corn, beans, and squash that were staples in the American Southeast and Central America. Other crops (e.g., certain strains of tobacco and sugar) that flourished in the Americas brought more Europeans, who sought to grow them as cash crops. They increased the demand for lands that were held by Native Americans. These developments, which proceeded directly from the Columbian Exchange, were devastating for Native Americans.
https://www.gilderlehrman.org/user?destination=node/78940
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