The Columbian Movement is the term used to describe the exchange of people, ideas, diseases, food, and crops between the New and Old Worlds. It was important because it caused racial mixing, the introduction of deadly diseases that wiped out the Native American population, and the loss of products, goods, and trade routes.
The statement that best sums up the Columbia Exchange is as follows:
- Africans to the Western Hemisphere; food from the Western Hemisphere to Europe and Africa; African and European diseases to the Western Hemisphere
- For Europe and Africa, which were more populous, the Western Hemisphere was a tremendous source of food and agricultural resources because of its abundance of fertile lands.
- African peoples served as slave labor in the Western Hemisphere under the control of European colonizers.
On the other hand, the native populations of the Western Hemisphere were ignorant of the ailments that plagued Africa and Europe.