AP World History Europe Encounters America Columbian Exchange

Class Discussion Notes “The Columbian Exchange”, pp. 490-492

Definition “The term Columbian Exchange refers to the transfer of peoples, animals, plants, and diseases between the New and Old Worlds. The European invasion and settlement of the Western Hemisphere opened a long era of biological and technological transfers that altered American environments.”

Columbian Exchange Diagram

Positive Impact “Within a century of the first settlement, domesticated livestock and major agricultural crops of the Old World (the known world before Columbus’ voyage) had spread over much of the Americas, and the New World’s useful staple crops had enriched the agricultures of Europe, Asia, and Africa.”

Negative Impact “Old World diseases that entered the Americas with European immigrants and African slaves devastated indigenous populations. These dramatic population changes weakened native peoples’ capacity for resistance and accelerated the transfer of plants, animals, and related technologies. As a result the colonies of Spain, Portugal, England and France became vast arenas of cultural and social experimentation.”

Smallpox Due to the long period of isolation from the Old World the inhabitants of the New World lacked immunity to Old World diseases The death rate (although only able to be estimated) was extreme – central Mexico’s population of 13 million people fell to roughly 700,000 – Mayan and Incan populations declined by 75% and Brazil lost 50% of its’ native inhabitants Mortality rates were often the highest when two epidemics struck at the same time (Influenza, Malaria, Yellow Fever) Evidence is not decisive on the Europeans consciously using disease as a tool of empire, but the deadly result certainly played a significant role in the process as it limited the native population’s ability to resist settlement

Plants & Food Stuffs The Columbian Exchange dramatically altered the diet and lifestyles around the world The Old World contributed crops such as rice, bananas, coconuts, breadfruit, and sugar to the traditional sources of New World food staples The New World offered maize, beans, squash, potatoes and manioc to the Old World diet It is widely believed that greater availability of food crops in all parts of the world contributed to greater stability in food supply (more calories produced per acre) and resulted in worldwide population growth

Tobacco This was a crop native to the Americas and had long been used by the Amerindians for recreation and medicine By the 17th century it was experiencing high demand from the Europeans King James I of England condemned the tobacco smoke as “dangerous to the eye, hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain, and dangerous to the lungs” By 1614 there were over 7,000 tobacco shops in and around London alone

Livestock “The introduction of European livestock had a dramatic impact on New World environments and cultures. Faced with few natural predators, cattle, pigs, horses, and sheep, as well as pests like rats and rabbits, multiplied rapidly in the Americas. On the vast plains of southern Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina, for example herds of wild cattle and horses exceeded 50 million by 1700.” The herds of livestock roaming the land had a devastating impact on the agricultural land, as they grazed on the grasses that helped prevent the drying out and erosion of the land.

Horses Of all the livestock to arrive in the New World the horse had the biggest impact The horse increased the efficiency of hunters and the military capacity of warriors on the plains The horse, for example, allowed the Apache, Sioux, Blackfoot, and Comanche, Assiniboine, and others to more efficiently hunt the vast herds of buffalo in North America

Assignment http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/nchist-twoworlds/1866 What is the Colombian Exchange? How did the Columbian Exchange alter the natural environment of the Americas? What impact did European colonization of the Americas have on the environment and peoples of the Americas?