Columbus improved food security for the Old World and the
New World. Europe struggled with a food crisis in the 15th
century. Croplands were not producing well. Harvests were
being tainted by fungal infections. Unless someone was
wealthy, they lived in a food-insecure household.
Columbus used his travels to enter the slave-trading market. Many
children have sung songs in school about how in 1492, Columbus
sailed the “ocean blue.” What got missed during this lesson is the
fact on the first day he landed, Columbus enslaved six people
because he felt that they would be “good servants.” During his trips
to the New World, he enacted forced labor policies to profit off of
local gold, tobacco, and chocolate. Thousands of people were
gathered on his ships to be sold as slaves in Europe too, with
hundreds dying before they ever reached dry land again.
His journeys caused numerous diseases to spread throughout the
world. The native populations in the Americas and the Caribbean
had no immunities for the various European diseases that
Christopher Columbus brought with him on his four journeys across
the ocean. There had been zero exposure to the measles, smallpox,
typhus, cholera, scarlet fever, malaria, whooping cough, chickenpox,
influenza, or the bubonic plague to the tribes before Columbus
made contact. Up to 90% of local populations were wiped out
because of disease exposure.
He introduced new ways of thinking to the New World. Columbus
was a skilled navigator due to his history with the sea. Using the
stars, maps, and his compass, he could travel almost anywhere or
replicate any journey. This knowledge is something he passed along
to the tribes and colonists who would eventually settle in the New
World. People spent less time traveling, improving movement
efficiencies throughout the world. Fewer uncertainties about map
accuracy occurred because of his efforts to spread knowledge too.
He was a brutal governor. Christopher Columbus was
appointed as the governor and viceroy over the Indies
because of his discoveries. His primary land to rule would
become the Dominican Republic. His brutality, slave
gathering, and disease spreading reputation proceeded him,
so the people there rebelled against him.
Livestock introductions occurred in the New World because
of Columbus. Christopher Columbus brought numerous
livestock options over from the Old World as a means of
trade in the Americas. The tribes immediately recognized the
value of having livestock for food instead of trying to hunt for
it. They readily accepted his cattle, hogs, and sheep during
the three visits made after his fateful journey in 1492.
The Columbian Exchange introduced more than just cash crops and
livestock. When Christopher Columbus initiated exchanges, there
were harmful elements included with the transaction for both
parties. Invasive rats began eating saved food stores on some
islands to the point humans could no longer live there safely. Weeds
and various grasses took over croplands, making them useless for
growing food stores. Gray squirrels stowed away on ships returning
to Europe, creating similar problems for the Old World. A nasty
potato fungus ripped through food stores there too, making it
difficult for some countries to produce crops for more than a
generation.
Numerous countries still benefit from the crop exchanges.
Christopher Columbus brought sugar cane and bananas to be grown
in the New World because he immediately recognized the
opportunity to grow tropical foods in the region. These plantations
proliferated, supporting a growing import/export passageway
between the old and the new. Potatoes grew better in the New
World too, creating cheaper food options for Europe. Although the
plantations have changed over the years, many of the cash crops
introduced by Columbus are still being grown today because of the
positive impacts they create on the food supply.
It gave the Old World an opportunity to colonize and
expand. Although Christopher Columbus is credited with the
discovery of the Americas, an old map unveiled in 2006 has
led some to argue that a Chinese explorer, named Admiral
Zheng He, explored the region 71 years before Columbus did.
The map was supposedly drawn in 1763, but has a note on it
that says that it is a reproduction of a map from 1418. This
map, artifacts discovered along the coasts, and star charts
indicating global voyages suggest the Chinese were the first
to circle the world.
Columbus still forcibly indoctrinated people into his faith.
Christopher Columbus is sometimes entertained as a possible
saint within the Catholic faith. That effort doesn’t get too far
because investigations show he forcibly indoctrinated many
of the tribes. He thought they’d be easy to convert, but the
reality for Columbus was very different. He would eventually
create encomienda.
Columbus introduced concepts of modern spirituality during
his voyages. Christopher Columbus was a devout Catholic.
History may judge his actions in a brutal light, but it was also
the standard operating procedure to do what he did at the
time. His efforts to spread Christianity to the New World
created a wave of spirituality through the Americas that
influences how religions are taught in the region still today.
Columbus was trying to circumvent the influences of the
Ottoman Empire, based on Islam, and felt reaching the
Americas was a way to do that.
Animal diseases expanded because of Columbus’s efforts.
Much has been written about the various diseases which
spread to human populations because of Christopher
Columbus. What should not be ignored are the animal
diseases which spread because of these exchanges too.
Larger animals like cattle overwhelmed the smaller
domesticated alpacas and llamas, with livestock diseases
spreading plentifully across the population centers.
It improved food economies across three continents. Within
20 years of the final voyage made by Christopher Columbus,
maize was grown in Asia, Africa, and Europe. It was a useful
crop, adaptable to the growing conditions in each region,
becoming a primary stable in the Nile Delta. By the beginning
of the 19th century, the corn imported by Columbus became
a source of food for livestock and families. The spices
imported to Europe, Africa, and Asia would become
integrated elements of local cuisine, with the techniques
developed then still practiced by families today.
Columbus changed the ecosystem of the Americas for the worse.
As explorers made their way through the Americas, millions of
people died because of the diseases being spread. With human
populations severely decreased, forests began to regrow. Animals
that were hunted for food saw their population numbers start
rising. Dramatic labor shortages began appearing on all the
continents. The loss of population contributed to the vast import of
slavery to the region by the 17th century, which was an issue not
fully resolved on a national level until the late 19th century – and in
some areas, the problem still exists.