Question

What is the Columbian Exchange? Which countries were involved in the Exchange? What was the impact of the silver trade on the world economies in the sixteenth century?

Answer 1

'Columbian exchange' was the termed named after the world traveller christopher columbas in the year 1492.He travelled world wide.This term was first used by Alfred W Crosby in the year 1972.This i salso known as columbian interchange which referred to widespread transfer and movement of goods,plants,animals,culture,human population,technology,language,ideas,food etc.It was only after this that people knew about the world,they did not knew about the existence of such a large area of world,people etc.In other words,it was the ancient form of globalisation which brought the people closer to more about each other.Peole mainly dealt in trade which lead to transfer of language,culture,ideas etc.It mainly connected the continents like africa,europe,america and to much extent asia too.Due to this only people came to know about eatables like wheat,maize,potato,tomato,tobacco etc.This lead to spreading of diseases around the world.Many native tribes were badly affected due to this and even they were thrown out of the forests.cattles and human slaves were traded.This columbian exchange had a profound impact on the contemporary society that laid the foundation of modern day society.

The countries mainly involved were England,France,Spain,Portugal,carribean islands,Brazil,Peru and the USA Many other small countries were also involved in the process.

Silver trade was also carried out on a large scale to use it as a medium of exchange and i think this was a very crucial activity towards the movement of world economy as a barter economy to the modern day economy which had a proper sytem of exchange.This proved to be a milestone that lead to a widespread social and economical changes in the 16th century and in the years to come.This resulted in inflation,deflation,a shift in the mentality of producer and the consumer.The global silver trade was to much extent to columbian exchange that lead to the foundation of global economy.The flow of silver mainly took place between the European,American and the Asian countries.Americans,Europeans and the Japanese exchanged their silver with countries like China,india in lieu of luxury and essential items.When this large scale draining of silver were noticed by them,they started planning and taking steps that could balance their trade deficit.In conclusion it had a profound impact on various aspects of world politics,society and the economy.