The Columbian Exchange: The Emergence of Colonial Plants,

Crops and Animals to the New World

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An Undergraduate Thesis Proposal Submitted to the Faculty of History Department

College of Social Sciences and Humanities
Mindanao State University, General Santos City

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In Partial Fulfillment of the Course Requirements in

History M31-3 – History of United States of America

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By
DAISY MARIE RANOCO
September 25, 2021
ABSTRACT
 “The Columbian Exchange: The Emergence of Colonial Plants,
Crops and Animals to the New World”

Introduction

In the past few decades, the Americas were home to more people than Europe when

Columbus landed, and that most lived in complex, highly organized societies. The region was

inhabited largely by nomadic tribes who lived lightly on the territory, and the land was, for the

most part, a vast wilderness. Scholars had long assumed that the indigenous peoples of the

Americas were fewer, more culturally developed, and had less control over the natural terrain. 1

European nations arrived to the Americas to increase their riches and influence on global

concerns. The Spaniards were among the first Europeans to discover and establish what the

United States is now.2 The colonization by the European brought various changes to the region,

as it ruptured many ecosystems, bringing in new organisms while eliminating others. The

Europeans brought many diseases with them that decimated Native American populations.

Colonists and Native Americans alike looked to new plants as possible medicinal resources.3

The physical fact of the meeting and travel between the Old and the New World was a

huge environmental turning point, which was given the name of the ‘Columbian Exchange’, the

mixing of people, deadly diseases that devastated the Native American population, crops, and

animals, goods, and trade flows. The term ‘Columbian Exchange’ was coined by the historian,

Alfred Crosby in a book by that name in 1972, subtitled Biological and Cultural Consequences

1
NPR. NPR (John Ydstie, August 21, 2005). https://www.npr.org/2005/08/21/4805434/1491-explores-the-
americas-before-columbus. Accessed October 16, 2021.
2
“Colonial America,” Americas Library. https://www.americaslibrary.gov/jb/colonial/jb_colonial_subj.html.
Accessed October 16, 2021.
3
Ben Davis. “What Are the 3 Reasons European Colonization?” Mvorganizing.org. May 15, 2021.
https://www.mvorganizing.org/what-are-the-3-reasons-european-colonization/. Accessed October 16, 2021.
of 1492. The result of that exchange amounted to an environmental revolution in human

history. 4 The introduction of new crops and domesticated animals to the Americas did almost as

much to upset the region’s biological, economic, and social balance as the introduction of disease

had. Populations also were introduced to new weeds and pests, livestock, and pets. New food and

fiber crops were introduced to Eurasia and Africa, improving diets and fomenting trade there.5

The Columbian exchange offers improvements and new ideas to the Native Americans,

however, it also caused negative effects to native plants, crops, and animals that can be found in

the area. This historical case caught the interest of the researcher. This study entitled: “The

Columbian Exchange: The Emergence of Colonial Plants, Crops and Animals to the New

World”, aims to know what are those plants and animals brought by the colonizers and to

determine how it affects the natives in the American region.

4
Vejas Liulevicius. “Columbian Exchange and the Ideas of the New World.” The Great Courses Daily. June 26, 2020.
https://www.thegreatcoursesdaily.com/columbian-exchange-and-the-ideas-of-the-new-world/. Accessed October
16, 2021.
5
J.R. McNeill. “The Columbian Exchange.” NCpedia. https://www.ncpedia.org/anchor/columbian-exchange.
Accessed October 16, 2021.
 DISCUSSION

In this section, it will discuss the significant information gathered by the researcher

regarding the topic about the Columbian Exchange specifically, on the Colonial Plants, Crops

and Animals to the New World. The discussion will focused on the negative effects of

Columbian exchange and to how it affects the natives in the American region.

It’s important to note that God, wealth, and glory are the three main motivations for

European exploration and colonization of the New World, and that is according to historians.

Plants, animals, and illnesses were carried over the Atlantic by Europeans, changing lifestyles

and landscapes on both sides of the water. The Columbian Exchange refers to these two-way

interactions between the Americas and Europe/Africa.

In written account of the historian, Alfred Crosby he first used the term “Columbian

Exchange” in the 1970s to describe the massive interchange of people, animals, plants and

diseases that took place between the Eastern and Western Hemispheres after Columbus’ arrival

in the Americas. On Columbus’ second voyage to the Caribbean in 1493, he brought 17 ships

and more than 1,000 men to explore further and expand an earlier settlement on the island of

Hispaniola (present-day Haiti and the Dominican Republic). In the holds of their ships were

hundreds of domesticated animals including sheep, cows, goats, horses and pigs—none of which

could be found in the Americas. The Europeans also brought seeds and plant cuttings to grow

Old World crops such as wheat, barley, grapes and coffee in the fertile soil they found in the

Americas. 6

6
Sarah Pruitt. “How the Columbian Exchange Brought Globalization—and Disease.” History.
https://www.history.com/news/columbian-exchange-impact-diseases?fbclid=IwAR3F--
7hMeeMdAcxDkHkhAOnN3Q0M7dl0FqKIZQgPKl-zE_nWHBe4nbdAs0. Accessed October 20, 2021.
The Columbian Exchange: from the Old World to the New World

The crossing of the Atlantic by plants like cacao and tobacco illustrates the ways in

which the discovery of the New World changed the habits and behaviors of Europeans.

Europeans changed the New World in turn, not least by bringing Old World animals to the

Americas. On his second voyage, Christopher Columbus brought pigs, cows, chickens, and

horses to the islands of the Caribbean. Many Native Americans used horses to transform their

hunting and gathering into a highly mobile practice. The Columbian Exchange embodies both

the positive and negative environmental and health results of contact (Opens in a new

window) as well as the cultural shifts produced by such contact. Columbus brought sugar to

Hispaniola in 1493, and the new crop thrived. Over the next century of colonization, Caribbean

islands and most other tropical areas became centers of sugar production, which in turn fueled

the demand to enslave Africans for labor.7

New plants make new medicines

European expansion in the Americas led to an unprecedented movement of plants across

the Atlantic. A prime example is tobacco, which became a valuable export as the habit of

smoking took hold in Europe. Another example is sugar. Columbus brought sugarcane to the

Caribbean on his second voyage from Spain in 1493, and thereafter a wide variety of other herbs,

flowers, seeds, and roots. Notably, Europeans traveled to America to discover new medicines.

The task of cataloging the new plants found there led to the emergence of the science of botany.8

7
“The Columbian Exchange.” Khan Academy. https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/us-history/precontact-
and-early-colonial-era/old-and-new-worlds-collide/a/the-columbian-exchange-ka. Accessed October 20, 2021.
8
“Environmental and Health Effects of European Contact with the New World.” Khan Academy.
https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/us-history/precontact-and-early-colonial-era/old-and-new-worlds-
collide/a/environmental-and-health-effects-of-contact. Accessed October 20, 2021.
Environmental changes

The arrival of Europeans in America triggered a slew of environmental changes that

harmed both local creatures and people. Because of the popularity of beaver-trimmed hats in

Europe, as well as Native Americans' yearning for European weaponry, beavers in the Northeast

were overhunted. Beavers were extinct in New England, New York, and other places within a

few years. Beaver ponds, which provided as fish habitat as well as water supplies for deer,

moose, and other species, were lost along with them. Pigs were also introduced by Europeans,

who allowed them to feed in woods and other natural areas. 9

The exchange also drastically increased the availability of many Old World crops, such

as sugar and coffee, which were the availability of many Old World crops, such as sugar and

coffee, which were particularly well-suited for the soils of the New World, particularly, well-

suited for the soils of the New World. The exchange not only brought gains, but also losses. The

effects of the Columbian Exchange were not isolated to the parts of the he effects of the

Columbian Exchange were not isolated to the parts of the world most directly participating in the

exchange: Europe and the Americas. It also world most directly participating in the exchange:

Europe and the Americas. It also had large, although less direct, impacts on Africa and Asia. 10

It clearly stated that, the exchange really had impacts on Europe, because new types of

food and animals were brought back to Europe. In connection, this had both positive and

negative aspects: Positive because they served as a valuable source for food however, Negative

because they destroyed their croplands. Plants carried back to Europe enriched nutrition in the

Old World and this resulted in major population explosions.

9
“Environmental and Health Effects of European Contact with the New World.” Khan Academy.
https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/us-history/precontact-and-early-colonial-era/old-and-new-worlds-
collide/a/environmental-and-health-effects-of-contact. Accessed October 20, 2021.
10
 The animal component of the Columbian Exchange was slightly less one-sided. ith the

new animals, Native Americans acquired new sources of hides, wool, and animal protein. Thus,

the introduced animal species had some important economic consequences in the Americas and

made the American hemisphere more similar to Eurasia and Africa in its economy. The new

animals made the Americas more like Eurasia and Africa in a second respect. One introduced

animal, the horse, rearranged political life even further. The Native Americans of the North

American prairies, often called Plains Indians, acquired horses from Spanish New Mexico late in

the 17th century. 11

The Columbian Exchange was more evenhanded when it came to crops. The Americas’

farmers’ gifts to other continents included staples such as corn (maize), potatoes, cassava, and

sweet potatoes, together with secondary food crops such as tomatoes, peanuts, pumpkins,

squashes, pineapples, and chili peppers. Some of these crops had revolutionary consequences in

Africa and Eurasia. Eurasian and African crops had an equally profound influence on the history

of the American hemisphere. Until the mid-19th century, “drug crops” such as sugar and coffee

proved the most important plant introductions to the Americas. Introduced staple food crops,

such as wheat, rice, rye, and barley, also prospered in the Americas12

The Transfer of New World Foods to the Old World

11
J.R. McNiell. “Columbian Exchange.” Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/event/Columbian-exchange.
Accessed October 20, 2021.
12
J.R. McNiell. “Columbian Exchange.” Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/event/Columbian-exchange.
Accessed October 20, 2021.
 The Transfer of New World Foods to the Old World during the Columbian Exchange

had important consequences for world history. Historian Alfred Crosby (1989, p. 666) describes

the significance of the transfer of food crops between the continents, writing: “The coming

together of the continents was a prerequisite for the population explosion of the past two

centuries, and certainly played an important role in the Industrial Revolution. The transfer across

the ocean of the staple food crops of the Old and New Worlds made possible the former.” 13

Food from the Americas would change Africa, Asia, and Europe forever. The agricultural

products of cassava and sweet potatoes improved nutrition, while cacao, chili peppers, and

tomatoes increased vitamin intake. In fact, by the end of the 1900s, a third of the food grown for

consumption was originally domesticated in the Americas (McNeill, n.d.). Maize made vast

waves as a way to feed people and animals in Afro-Eurasia. The potato changed the world in

similar ways as well. Unlike maize, potatoes cannot be grown everywhere, but where it did the

plant became very important. Potatoes are inherently more resilient than other plants because of

the fact that they grow underground, protected by the elements (Mann, 2011). 14

By introducing new crops from the Americas to Europe, the Columbian Exchange aided

population expansion and ushered in Europe's economic transition to capitalism. Colonization

altered ecosystems, introducing new species such as pigs while eradicating others such as

beavers. Native Americans were introduced to animals that would be of use later on. Example:

Horses. Riding on horses in battle or just finding a place to settle would have been much easier

than walking. So, they were helpful in battle and they were helpful to nomads. A primary

13
Nathan Nunn and Nancy Qian. “The Columbian Exchange: A History of Disease, Food, and Ideas.” The Columbian
Exchange: A History of Disease, Food, and Ideas 24, no. 2 (n.d.): pp. 163-188.
https://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/faculty/qian/resources/NunnQianJEP.pdf. Accessed October 20, 2021.
14
Katie Lloyd. “The Columbian Exchange: How the New World Affected the Old.” Panoramas.
https://www.panoramas.pitt.edu/other/columbian-exchange-how-new-world-affected-old. Accessed October 20,
2021.
positive effect of the Columbian Exchange is increased food supply of both the Old World and

the New World. Various crops such as wheat, barley, and rye, were introduced by Columbus and

his followers.15

The Columbian Exchange was not limited to the movement of food, but it was a very

large portion of what occurred. The world as we know it would not be the same without it.

Despite this, Columbus believed he was altering the world. In some ways, he did, but Indigenous

peoples of the Americas and their inventiveness were the ones who truly changed the globe and

the lives of millions. The Columbian Exchange benefited the people of Europe and its colonies

much while causing Native Americans to suffer greatly.

FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION

15
Ben Davis. “What Were the Effects of the Columbian Exchange on the Old World?” MVOrganizing. May 2, 2021.
https://www.mvorganizing.org/what-were-the-effects-of-the-columbian-exchange-on-the-old-world/. Accessed
October 20, 2021.
BIBLIOGRAPHY