Global impact of the “Columbian Exchange”
The voyages of exploration of the 16th century led to contact between the Old and the New Worlds. People, plants, and animals were brought to places where they had been unknown. This led to what became known as the Columbian Exchange, named after Christopher Columbus. Europeans brought cattle, horses, and sheep to the New World, and from the New World, Europeans received tobacco, potatoes, tomatoes, and maize (corn).

The Columbian Exchange led to huge changes in the economies, diets, and social organization of cultures around the world. In North and South America, many Native American tribes were almost completely wiped out by new diseases like smallpox. In Europe, nations raced to make their colonial claims around the world.

The Columbian Exchange marked the beginning of the transfer of diseases, plants, and animals between the east and west.

Culture clash
The Age of Exploration and the Columbian Exchange that followed forever changed cultures. This was especially the case in North and South America.

The Aztec city of Tenochtitlan was destroyed by Cortes and his men. Source: Wikimedia Commons, Diego Rivera
In South America, the Aztec and Inca Empires were destroyed by the Spanish. They were followed by Dutch, the French, and the British. They all pushed aside the indigenous people as they grabbed their land and corrupted their culture. In places like Australia, New Zealand, and the Americas, people were murdered, abused, and cheated out of their homelands.

Devastating diseases
The Europeans brought a danger with them to the New World that was unseen. This danger was disease that the indigenous people had no immunity to. The worst two were measles and smallpox. Within 150 years of Columbus “discovering” America in 1492, between 80-95% of the Native American population had died from disease epidemics.

16th century Aztec drawing of smallpox victims. Source: Wikimedia Commons, Viruses, Plagues, and History: Past, Present and Future, Oxford University Press,
Importing animals
One of the first animals to make its way from Europe to the New World was the horse. It dramatically changed the lives of many North American tribes. The horse allowed them to hunt bison on horseback. Tribes were able to move around more, and many came from the mountains to the Great Plains.

Nez Percé man, wearing loin cloth and moccasins, on horseback. Source: Wikimedia Commons, Edward S. Curtis
Other animals that were brought to the New World were donkeys, pigs, cattle, and chickens. These animals allowed for faster transportation and more efficient agricultural production.

These animals also explain why so many Native Americans perished from disease during this time. In part, Europeans had resistance to disease because they had lived for so many centuries alongside these farm animals. Smallpox, in particular, was a disease that came from animals. Over centuries, Europeans developed a resistance to this disease. The Native Americans had never been exposed, so when they encountered the Europeans and their animals, they had no resistance.

Cross-Atlantic slave trade
The Age of Discovery also ignited the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. While slavery had existed for centuries in both the Americas and in Europe, Africa, and Asia, it reached a new height in the 16th century.

Group of men, children, and women being taken to a slave market. Source: Wikimedia Commons, Wellcome Images
European traders stole people from Africa against their will and sold them primarily in Europe and the Americas. These enslaved people were treated like animals and could never buy their freedom. In the 16th century, the Portuguese became the first Europeans to bring slaves from Africa to their American colonies. Other countries soon followed. The slaves were put to work on coffee, sugar, and cotton plantations, as well as in gold and silver mines. Others were used as household servants. Slaves were not even thought to be humans, but were simply the property of their owners.

Scroll back up and review the sections from "Global Impact of the 'Columbian Exchange'" to this question. Then, summarize the effects of the Age of Exploration on the people in the Americas.