Columbian Exchange

Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492, but what that nice little rhyme omits is how much that voyage changed the world. In the Americas, there was widespread death because of new diseases and the indigenous populations that survived were significantly impacted by European colonists. In Africa, the new foods that were traded led to an increase in population across the continent, but at the same time, the Atlantic Slave Trade led to a gender imbalance as well as depopulation in certain regions. Meanwhile, Europeans made out well because of all the new crops that increased the population and they were profiting off the trade at every corner of the globe.