Columbian Exchange SAQ

“The Columbian connection had a devastating effect on the indigenous human societies of the Americas. . . . New disease vectors suddenly introduced into the vulnerable populations of the New World began a sequence of horrific pandemics. Rapidly spreading infectious disease devastated indigenous peoples of the New World. It thinned their numbers, destroyed their institutions, and broke their resistance to Spanish aggression. . . . Demographic recovery after major pandemics was hindered by reduced fertility, stillbirths, and other physical effects, as well as by cultural depression, hopelessness, and malaise resulting from Spanish colonial domination.” 

“The New World provided soils that were very suitable for the cultivation of a variety of Old World products, . . . The increased supply lowered the prices of these products significantly, making them affordable to the general population for the first time in history. The production of these products also resulted in large inflows of profits back to Europe, which some have argued fueled the Industrial Revolution and the rise of Europe. The Old World gained access to new crops that were widely adopted. . . . The improvement in agricultural productivity . . . had significant effects on historic population growth and urbanization.”