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Although Columbus’s revelation of the New World to the Old World caused deadly diseases to both hemispheres, a loss of preservation of native American culture in the New World, and the unhealthy effect of tobacco in the Old World, it made an overall positive impact in lasting terms by the introduction of religion and horses and cattle in the New World and the new agriculture advancements and alpacas. The Eastern-Western hemisphere encounter was obviously positive in the Western hemisphere because of the fact that most of us here would have never been born, but the introduction of religions made a lasting impact.
Most Europeans were religious and wanted to share their faith with the natives. Some people also came to escape religious persecution and be free to have their own beliefs. By sharing their faith, accepting natives had a new sense of peace and generosity like religious Europeans. It also helped early communication and commonalities of the New and Old Worlds because the natives would have better first impressions of the Europeans thinking that they are good people and the Europeans thought more of the religious natives as people rather than savages.
When horses and cattle were introduced, it was one of the greatest advancements for Native Americans. Horses allowed transportation and long distance communication to flow more easily. Hunting was affected by both horses and cattle. Horses are obviously swifter than human feet and cattle could either be wild and hunted or raised and butchered. Either way, cattle provided more meat than small game or deer; They also contain more fat which had a much better connotation than it does nowadays.
Despite the improvements for the New World, disease was the most prominent malefactor. Illnesses like malaria were unfair players because the natives had no built up immunity to them. Few of the Americans survived these diseases which made it easier for an eventual complete take over of native land through bioterrorism. The Columbian Exchange was a large benefit to both sides, but it made the Native Americans loose more of their culture than Europeans.
By integrating so many Old World ideas, it became harder and harder to identify their true culture. Even today, one could go to an Indian reservation and see only a few people who carry as much original native traditions as possible, but none of them can because some of the new ideas were so hidden, like horses, that it’s hard for even a person who is majority Native American to dissect his or her culture to its purest form. Other countries still have bright culture that they hold on to and can be recognized by.
The Old World was affected negatively by the New World, but not in such a harsh way. They came back with less than half the diseases that they brought. Many people were killed by the sicknesses like yellow fever, but not in any kind of comparison to the Native Americans, and the diseases they brought were nothing to the Black Plague that so many had heard about so it didn’t affect them as much as natives. Tobacco, although it may seem small, was an unnoticed problem for Europeans.
It soon became a necessity. Both chewing and smoking affected their heath and is even a problem today. The negative effects on the Old World are significantly less severe than on the New World. The Old World had a huge advantage over the Native Americans because they could see a native’s actual life and almost everything about them while the New World didn’t originally have that benefit. Because of this, the Europeans got many agriculture ideas and foods from the Americas.
The way of farming there had different types of fertilizer and care. They also had different foods like potatoes and tomatoes which had nutritional and cultural effects in places like Ireland and Italy. The connotation of Italy wouldn’t be the same if tomatoes hadn’t been brought over to them. The alpaca was also a benefit. Alpacas can climb through mountains more easily than most animals which were an achievement in trading transportation. Alpaca wool can also be sheared like a sheep’s and still grow back.
Despite the effects the Old World received, the New World had more severe results like religion, horses and cattle, disease, and a loss of true culture. The Old World also had diseases, but the lesser amounts of them and the problem of tobacco was not as bad as the New Worlds hurt; The Old World also benefitted less with new agriculture and alpacas. Even though the Native Americans had a period of devastation from European explorations, it became bitter sweet after a while and in the end was a positive occurrence.