The Columbian Stock Exchange was a trading network that was indisputably an important event in world history due to the exchange of ideas, crops, animals and diseases between the Old World and the New World, make the world “smaller”; it is undeniable that if the Colombian exchange had not happened, all of our lives today would be drastically different. Between 1450 and 1750 – the period of the Columbian Exchange – mumps, a virus originally discovered in Europe, was transferred from the Old World to the New; in both hemispheres, diseases were transmitted unknowingly until people began to notice correlations between those who became ill and what might cause them to contract the disease, which led to the use of diseases as weapons in biological warfare, causing the death of indigenous populations and allowing the economic prosperity of Europeans. Mumps were used in biological warfare to kill natives – this was effective because the natives had never encountered this disease before and resulted in a decrease in the native population by approximately 90%. Mumps is a common disease that spreads easily but has long lost its deadly effect on humanity. Due to the ease of spread and contraction of this disease, it easily traveled from the Old World to the New World on the backs of explorers, conquistadors, colonists and merchants. This disease was not a big problem for Europeans and Africans because most had developed an immunity to it – it was discovered in ancient Greece by Hippocrates (American Academy of Pediatrics) – but for the natives of the Americas it was the first time being exposed to such a disease. The Europeans at some point noticed this and started infecting the natives... halfway through the document... which brings us here today. Works Cited C, TE, Jr. “Hippocrates describes mumps followed by orchitis.” Hippocrates describes mumps followed by orchitis. The American Academy of Pediatrics, 1967. Web. 15 November 2013. .Green, Tim. "Further results." More RSS results. WordPress MU and Web. November 15, 2013. Lippert, Dorothy Thompson, and Stephen J. Spignesi. Native American History for Dummies. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Pub., 2008. Print.Nunn, Nathan, and Nancy Qian. "The Colombian Exchange: A History of Disease, Food, and Ideas." Journal of Economic Outlook. 2nd ed. vol. 24. Np: np, 2010. 163-88. Yale. Network. November 15. 2013. .