The diseases that the European explorers brought …show more content…
It was the explorers that gave the New World horses, cows, pigs, bed bugs, house flies, cockroaches, tumbleweeds, and wild oats. Although the introduction of horses is arguably a positive aspect of the Columbian exchange due to the fact that they increased Indian fighting and mobility, the negative outweighs the positive. When the horses were placed in the new environment-which was perfect for them-their population exploded, and they promptly trampled local environments. Cows took over any grassland they could reach, and pigs ate indigenous plant life, as well as shellfish and sweet potatoes. While the Native Americans had to deal with the damaging wildlife placed upon them, Europeans enjoyed a wide variety of agriculture taken from the New World. The foreign plants dominated the native ones, and invaded every