Columbian Exchange Facts Essay Example

Columbian Exchange Facts Essay Example Columbian Exchange Facts Essay Columbian Exchange Facts Essay The Effects the Trade for New World Goods on Indigenous Relationships The European notion that the Americas had an overflow of untapped treasures and new world goods drove the development of labor in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The new world products were inclusive of commodities that had their origin from the Americas as the only source. These goods that were only found in the Americas were the cause of movements across the Atlantic Ocean by people from Eurasia and Africa. These new world products included maize, potatoes, cinchona tree (malaria therapy), tobacco, cacao, peanuts, sunflower, animals, slaves and of course diseases such as Syphilis. The motive to acquire these products led to the development of the Columbia exchange that apart from itself requiring much labor was a means of forcefully and cheaply acquiring much needed human labor from other accessible parts of the world like Africa. The resource-angry Europeans were short of labor to carry on with their quest for amassing the new world goods and therefore granted the America n natives the right to own both domestic and imported energy; a right popularly known those days as encomiendas. Bumpy rewards were in store for individuals who enabled high performances through their laborers. Columbian Exchange Effects Of all the good exchanged between the Americas and the other parts of the world, sugar was the most valuable, akin to the current worlds oil value. European conflicts arose in the struggle to establish and control sugar plantation in the Americas best sugar plantation regions. Tobacco also stood out to have great importance in this trade in the new world, where it was rather smoked a compared to the Americans use for medicinal and ritualistic purposes. Also of great value in the new world was cacao that was used to produce chocolate. Chocolate drinks known as xocolati was a ceremonial beverage among the Mesoamerican Indians and was used during marriages. This use, however, did not sink well with the Spaniards who viewed it as vile and named it the devils vomit; Apart from the crops, animals were also traded as new world goods. For instance, Christopher Columbus brought cows, pigs, horses and chicken to the Caribbean Islands on his second voyage. The new world animals also included sn akes and sloths that appeared bizarre to the Europeans. (Bresnahan; Gordon, 1997) Microbes were also unconsciously exchanged since they were small insignificant creatures with devastation effects on humans. Examples of infections that were acquired from the bacteria included smallpox, measles, and chickenpox. There was also the exchange of sexually transmitted infections (STI;s) like syphilis amongst the traders.; The labor offered under this kind of relationship was a rather full of slavery practice and was forceful to the natives. This exploitation could be seen in the bargaining tool of the conquest rulers who exposed the laborers to Catholicism instead. Being in such an exploitative kind of a relationship the American natives opted to exploit their rights and resist the colonialists rule and roles in the new world trade. Instead, they inclined to their old beliefs and systems instead of the early adopting Catholicism. Others were however adapted to portions of the new belief that had some sense and appeal in them. Effects of the Columbian Exchange The import of forced labor from other parts of the world in the context of the Columbian exchange came with violence especially brutality from the Spanish rulers. One Dominican friar named Las Casas had previously owned Indian slaves in the Americas. After witnessing the brutality that the encomenderos implicated on the natives he gave it up and sharply differed with other recipients of the encomiendas. Later in 1515 he started advocating for the kind regard and handling of the native laborers and slaves that led to the establishment of New Laws that were aimed at ending slavery and the encomiendas system.(Brands, Breen, Williams, Gross, 2016.) Although mostly discussed, Indians were not the only forced labor victims in the Americas. Africans also were victims of forced labor to the European rulers and were utilized in the production of tobacco, sugar and other cash crops for sale in the European markets. To justify the integration of Africans into enslavement, the Europeans viewed the as non-Christians and as a consequence, were completely and brutally denied the control of their lives. Any attempt of resistance to the forced labor and slavery was met with physical, mental and sexual violence from the Europeans; as a method to assert their status as master and superior. More involved in the trade for slave laborers across the Atlantic into the Americas were the Portuguese. The Portuguese had slave holder pens on the west coast of Africa like Ghanas Elmina Castle, after which the captured slaves were sold to the Spanish, English, and Dutch colonial inhabitants in the Americas to assist in the production of sugar for export. In the sugarcane plantation farms, the laborers could manually harvest and process large masses of sugarcane. The labor intensive methods involved in the production of sugar and the recycling of their byproducts into molasses was very dangerous to the unprotected manual laborers. According to Las Casas, by the year 1550, there were about fifty thousand enslaved workers in the Hispaniola owners section of the Americas. He recounts that this was the largest tragedy yet in the New Atlantic World. (New Worlds in the Americas: Labor, Commerce, and the Columbian Exchange | US History I (OS Collection), 2016) Columbian Exchange Impact Effects of Labor Trade on the Indigenous Relations The transactions between the new world and the old world had various effects on the existing indigenous relationships. Previously before these developments there existed a deep connection to the indigenous people and their geographical territories, cultural and spiritual beliefs and aesthetical connections. Encroachment of colonial rulers and the Europeans into the Americas for New world goods could have caused an imbalance in the much-treasured coexistence of the American inhabitants. Spiritually, the Europeans forcefully introduced to the Americas the new practice of Catholicism against their wish to practice their belief. This new idea is viewed to have diluted the local spiritual relationships as other natives resorted to either fully adopting the new faith or adopting the practices of the new religion that suited them most. The crops and foods that were initially viewed by the local natives as of aesthetic and therapeutic value were later abused and new uses adopted due to these interactions. An example is the use of tobacco that was initially for medicinal purposes until the Europeans made a health-deteriorating smoking habit out of it. The import and use of forceful labor and slavery in the farms and crops plantations was against the cultural belief of the natives. This engagement and the encomiendas system introduced a concept of brutality, slavery, violence and greed for resources by to against the unifying indigenous culture in the Americas. The regard for human rights and values were also corroded due to the occurrence of such incidences within the transaction zones. Sacred beliefs by the natives were also mutilated by the engagement of the colonial traders in sexual and psychological violence. Columbian Exchange Significance The export of the locally produced crops and animals also led to the loss of their aesthetic value that comes with ownership and are viewed as a value of wealth. The import and export of labor from within the exchange led to the exchange of previously non-existent infections and diseases in both camps. The acquisition of measles, chickenpox, and smallpox are a direct consequence of the purchase of slaves used as laborers from the various parts of the world. The export and import activities were also of the positive effect the indigenous people. For instance, the Americas learned better ways of land use and discovered new and essential products from the old word. The new world goods were also further explored to identify better and more appropriate uses to the American inhabitants. It evident that at the first instance, the effects associated with the trade for new world goods and labor was grave and unbearable to the indigenous people. However, the effects waned over time and a multicultural, advanced and harmonious society developed within the Americas in the long run. The world also became more open to commodities and this market the beginning of a long standing trade revolution that has generally benefited worlds economy. References Brands, H., Breen, T., Williams, R., Gross, A. American Stories. New Worlds in the Americas: Labor, Commerce, and the Columbian Exchange | US History I (OS Collection). (2016). Courses.lumenlearning.com. Retrieved 22 October 2016, from https://courses.lumenlearning.com/ushistory1os2xmaster/chapter/new-worlds-in-the-americas-labor-commerce-and-the-columbian-exchange/ Bresnahan, T. Gordon, R. (1997).The economics of new goods. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Role of Women in My Antonia Essay Example

Role of Women in My Antonia Essay Example Role of Women in My Antonia Paper Role of Women in My Antonia Paper Essay Topic: Literature In Willa Cathers novel, My Antonia, there is a distinct difference in the roles of women. One sees the female characters taking on not so feminine roles by working in the fields or playing in the dust and dirt with boys. We also get to see a great independence for women as they get jobs and raise families. Willa Cather could very well have been a blossoming feminist in her time since she crumbled the stereotypes of women and boldly placed them in positions of power. She made not only the main female character of this book, Antonia, but all of the women reject society rules and have the confidence to make their own decisions about what to do with their lives. Willa Cathers novel really escapes from the societal norm of women at the time and replaces it with female characters unbound by stereotypes. Running a business, unheard of for women at that time, yet Cather has one of her characters, Lena Lingard, practice dress making. She eventually gets a job and starts selling what she makes. This eventually leads to her running her own store and having a well-respected place in society. It is worth noticing that Cather doesnt put her in the position of struggling to keep her business going but as being successful and happy. It seemed to me wonderful that she should have got on so well in the world (Cather, 171). Cather also included several other characters that embodied a strong independent woman like Mrs. Gardener. It was Mrs. Gardener who ran the business and looked after everything. Her husband stood at the desk and welcomed incoming travelers. He was a popular fellow, but no manager (Cather, 117). With Mrs. Gardener she had her running the business and the husband doing all the petty work, effectively switching gender roles. Lastly she writes a couple pages on what happened with Tiny Soderball, who went up north during the gold rush and ran a hotel-like business from there. There she sometimes fed a hundred and fifty people a day. Miners came in on snowshoes from their placer claims 20 miles away to by fresh bread from her, and paid for it in gold (Cather, 193). We also see a swap in gender roles here where all of these men are depending on a woman instead of the other way around. Cather really breaks women free of stereotypical bonds and has them makes their own independent choices. Miss Cather, I think, in this book has taken herself out of the rank of provincial writers and given us something we can fairly class with modern literary feminism (Bloom, 5). Country women in the novel were not confined to staying inside and caring for the children while making dinner. Antonia is the perfect example of this because, early on, we see that she is a lively young girl whose youth is not yet affected by the social norms of that time. Antonia had opinions about everything, and she was soon able to make them known (Cather, 22). When her father died she had to take up labor in the fields to help her family survive. She didnt complain about it like Ambrosch did, it seemed very much like Ambrosch did very little work and just spent his time bossing her around. Ambrousch hired his sister out like a man, and she went from farm to farm, binding sheaves or working with the threshers. (Cather, 95). Throughout the novel, Antonia was probably the one who did the most work out of anyone. In the end when Jim returns to meet her we find out that she is still working even after she has born numerous children. Though Antonia seems old and worn shes still the happy, energetic kid Jim remembers from his childhood. Antonia had not lost the fire in her life. Her skin, so brown and hardened, had not that look of flabbiness, as if the sap beneath it had been secretly drawn away. (Cather, 217). Cather had her be the vision of a woman who could still be proud even after a life of hardship. Cathers use of the daughters being the main lifeline for families switches the roles between them and the sons (Bloom, 17). Bloom brings up a very good point in that the families often relied on their daughters for support rather than their sons. Frances was the oldest daughter of the Harlings. Frances, was a very important person in our world. She was her fathers chief clerk, and virtually managed his Black Hawk office during his frequent absences (Cather, 97). Antonia was the Shimerdas communicator for the outside world and she also worked in the fields to support her family when her father died. When Lena, Tiny and Antonia went to Black Hawk for work they always sent the money back to their families, keeping only enough to get by for themselves. Antonia seemed fine with this and often bragged how much ploughing she had done that day. (Cather, 118). So, where were the boys while the females labored tirelessly? They were almost never out in the fields working, they were just in school. Other farmers greatly approved of women working to support their family and saw nothing unusual with women doing a mans job. The farmers liked her and were kind to her, said they would rather have her for a hand than Ambrousch (Cather, 95). Women could do more than just stay inside and cook, they could do hard labor and have jobs just like any man could. Willa Cather portrayed all of her women characters as strong roles models ready to combat whatever came their way. They could run business, work on the farm and raise a family all by themselves. These women were not affected by societys beliefs, stereotypes bounced off them as they went on their way, being just as capable as men. They were independent and could lead their own lives. Cathers novel helps pave the way for women equality everywhere. (Bloom, 2).

Recycling as an alternate form of energy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Recycling as an alternate form of energy - Essay Example Japan has already drawn up the sunlight plan, the main focus of which was solar energy that produced around 130,000 kilowatts of electricity. Nuclear Energy: Thermonuclear plants utilize Hydrogen2 (Deuterium) and 3 (Tritium) for its reactions, Hydrogen 2 is obtained from sea. Hydrogen is obtained form lithium, which is obtained from recycled batteries. The reaction between hydrogen 2 and 3 leads to production of Helium atom and neutron. This reaction is an exothermic reaction, thus releasing large amount of energy in the reactors. This reaction is known as Nuclear Fusion (The energy Story). It forms the basic reaction if power plants. Nuclear energy has its own share of advantages and disadvantages. It is cheaper, produced massive amount of energy and the raw material of which is easily available. But the most important challenge in the existing world of nuclear power is to get rid of the nuclear waste. Why is Recycling Important Recycling is not only required to protect the resources, but it will be more significant since it will lay in big way to reduce the natural resources pressure. Recycling is significant since it saves: 1. Raw Materials: Recycling will lead to the reduction in the need for raw materials such as metals, forests and oil and thus leading to reduction of impact on the environment. The level of our consumption in the UK is already having a significant impact on the environment and communities across the world, and alarmingly, UK is consuming an increasing quantity of raw materials. 2. Reduces our impact on climate change: Even though recycling uses energy but it also reduces the climate emissions and it is reported that recycling a material also uses less energy that manufacturing the virgin materials. A recent study done for the Government by the consultants ERM, and a study carried out for the government-funded Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP). This study reported that the relative greenhouse gas savings in UK is from recycling for paper/cardboard, glass, plastics, aluminum and steel. 3. Generates Cash: After collection, the recycled materials is separated and blended at materials recycling facilities and then sent to reprocessors such as paper mills, glass factories or plastic recyclable. Here the waste is