Three major aspects that demonstrate Old and New World exchanges

Introduction 

The discovery of America revolutionized the whole world as it opened new possibilities that were never thought of before. It brought new forms of communication, spread slave trade and brought new routes of trade. This paper argues that the discovery of America and that of the passage to the East Indies by the Cape of Good Hope are the two (2) greatest events in the world history. The essay will identify and give specific examples about three (3) major aspects that demonstrate Old and New World exchanges. Then, it will describe three (3) specific groups that were affected by this global event and provide two (2) examples for each group describing how the group was affected. The final part will summarize how this discovery affected the life of the average working American during the colonial period. 

Three (3) major aspects that demonstrate Old and New World exchanges 

Three major aspects that demonstrate Old and New World exchanges include trade, communication and culture (Grolle, 2013). During this time, the two-thirds of the settlers of England had arrived as indentured servants. But, these changes made them to voluntarily surrender their freedom for a given period of time, in exchange for passage to America. Most of them, especially from European cities like Amsterdam and Rotterdam, were bundled in large sea vessels and headed to America. They risked their lives because they were desperately seeking to escape the miserable economic conditions. These two great events also contributed to encourage the industries of countries like Poland and Hungary, which perhaps, may have never exported any of their own produce to America (Mann, 2011). So far, these events cannot be doubted because even today, this is so evident. Some commodities produced in America are consumed in Poland and Hungary and there is demand here for chocolate, tobacco and sugar of this New part of the world. When these American commodities landed in Poland and , they introduced herenewvalues and aspects of communication. 

Three (3) specific groups that were affected by this global event 

The three specific groups that were affected by this global event include Asians, Native Americans and Africans (Crosby, n.d). The Europeans landed with lethal disease, which devastated all the Native people in South and North America, including the Inca and the Aztec. Wherever the Europeans interacted with Indigenous Africans, it resulted in massive demographic catastrophe. For instance, the Taino demonstrated this trend. In a matter of 20 years, the initial Taino population of roughly 600,000 had shrunk to 60, 000 (Crosby, n.d).The native population experienced a drop of 90% or more. This was a common phenomenon. Also, the Inca experienced the same phenomena in Peru. This fate severely wiped out all natives of the Americans, too. Over the course of one thousand years, both 

Both Asians and Europeans suffered countless plagues, which devastated their populace (Grolle, 2013). Common examples include the Black Plague that occurred in the 14 th Century killing almost 40% of people across Eurasia, China and France. The spread of European diseases, which wiped out Americans and Indigenous communities, was part of a major demographic and cultural exchange between the old and the new worlds. Itwas largely characterized by exchange of technology, food, diseases, people and animals. It is obvious that Europeans won the better part of this exchange. Whereas Natives experienced a 90% drop in the number of population, Europeans took with them silver, gold and foodstuffs. In return, the Native Americans received European diseases such as cholera, small pox, measles, diphtheria, tropical malaria and bubonic plagues (Crosby, n.d). 

Summary of how this discovery affected the life of the average working American 

The discovery of America and that of the passage to the East Indies by the Cape of Good Hope are the two biggest events that revolutionized the world. These events opened up new possibilities in the world that were never previously thought of. For the average working American during the colonial period, these changes encouraged a new global trade, which meant that countries could exchange foodstuffs that the Working Americans could easily afford. Importantly, the events brought about new trade routes. These routes encouraged intermarriages hence the birth of new cultures (Mann, 2011). Sadly, the new global trade created social classes between the rich and the poor. The working Americans were divided according to differences in material possession and lifestyle. 

References 

Crosby, W., A. (n.d). The Columbian Exchange: Plants, Animals, and Disease between the Old and New Worlds.http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/tserve/nattrans/ntecoindian/essays/columbianb.htm 

Grolle, J. (2013). The Columbian Exchange: How Discovering the Americas Transformed the World. https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/a-923220.html 

Mann, C. C. (2011).  1493: How Europe's discovery of the Americas revolutionized trade, ecology and life on Earth . London: Granta Books.