Unintentionally in 1492 Christopher Columbus initiated an event that is perhaps the most important historical turning point in modern times for the American continents. . “For thousands of years before 1492, human societies in the Americas had developed in isolation from the rest of the world.” (p. 4) Christopher Columbus and other European travelers put an end to this starting in 1492 as they searched for treasure and attempted to spread Christianity. For the first time people from Europe, Africa and the Americas were in regular contact. Columbus was looking for one thing and discovered something completely different. He intended to reach Asia by sailing west instead of taking the traditional route around the Cape of Good Horn. In October"As European adventurers traversed the world in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, they began the "Columbian exchange" of plants, animals, and diseases."(p. 26). The Columbian Exchange refers to a period of trade between the New and Old Worlds. The exchange of plants, animals, diseases, and more modernized technologies began after Columbus landed in the Americas in 1492. It lasted throughout the 15th and 16th centuries. Domesticated animals such as cattle, horses, sheep, and pigs were introduced to the Americas. The Americas introduced many new crops to Europe such as potatoes, beans, pumpkin and corn. In time the natives learned to raise European livestock, and the Europeans and Africans planted American crops. This was the positive effect of the meeting and was largely responsible for the doubling of the world's population over the next three hundred years. There were also many negative effects on the “Colombian exchange”. One major consequence was the spread of disease to the New World. Diseases brought by Europeans and Africans devastated the population of the Americas. As Europeans traveled through the Americas, epidemics came with them. Typhus, diphtheria, malaria, influenza, cholera, and smallpox killed many natives. One example is that Christopher Columbus is profoundly known for being the key resource in advancing European culture beyond the seas. The Colombian exchange, colonization, and the growth of the use of slaves through the use of the triangular trade, transported foreign practices to the American continent, interrupting, but at the same time joining, the lifestyles of the inhabitants of these lands. A mixture of trials and travelers transformed America into a “new world,” taking the world by surprise. America would not have developed to the present period if it were not for this period of growth of the “old” and “new” world. A global world continues to this day as nations continue to share cultures