The Columbian Exchange

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The Columbian Exchange

Columbian Exchange When explorers created contacted between Europe & the Americas, the interaction with Native Americans led to BIG cultural changes. The Columbian Exchange is the exchange of physical elements such as, plants, animals, diseases, and weapons.

Animals During this time period, the ONLY domesticated animals in the Americas were…LLAMAS! European explorers brought horses, pigs, cattle, & sheep. This completely changed the way that the land was used!

Plants With all of these new farm animals, it was time to start planting crops. Europeans brought cash crops to the Americas: sugar, rice, wheat, coffee, bananas, & grapes. These new crops flourished in the Americas.

Plants Europeans find crops in the Americas: Maize (corn), tomatoes, tobacco, cacao (chocolate), beans, and cotton. They bring these plants back to Europe, where they are very popular. Think—Italian spaghetti…What if they never had tomatoes?

Diseases Europeans (unknowingly) brought over diseases that the natives weren’t immune to. These diseases spread by air & touch. Smallpox, measles, diphtheria, whooping cough, chickenpox, bubonic plague, scarlet fever, & influenza were the most common.

Old World (Europe, Asia, & Africa) Contribution New World (The Americas) Apples, bananas, citrus fruits, grapes, melons, peaches, pears Fruits Pineapples, tomatoes, papaya, strawberries Broccoli, cabbage, carrots, lettuce, onions, radishes Vegetables Avocados, green beans, pumpkins squash Barley, oats, rice, rye, wheat Grains Maize (corn) Black pepper, cinnamon, cloves, ginger Spices Chili peppers, vanilla Coffee, tea Drinks Chocolate Sugar cane, olives Other Plants Tobacco Cattle, chickens, donkeys, goats, horses, pigs, sheep Animals Guinea pigs, llamas, turkeys Cholera, malaria, measles, mumps, small pox, typhoid, yellow fever Diseases Syphilis

Devastating Effects Natives had no natural resistance to European diseases and the population dramatically decreased for decades. Inca empire decreased from 13 million to 2 million in 1600. North American population fell from 2 million in 1492 to 500,000 in 1900.

Devastating Effects Europeans need labor to cultivate all the new crops in the Americas, but there weren’t many natives left because of diseases. Europeans look to Africa for labor and begin to steal Africans to work as slaves in the Americas.

Impact Different Foods & Animals Over time, crops native to the Americas became staples in the diets of Europeans. These foods provided nutrition, thus helping people live longer. Economics Activities like cattle ranching and coffee growing were not possible before this time.

Effects Around the Globe The Columbian Exchange not only impacted Europe & the Americas, but also… China: Arrival of easy-to-grow, nutritious corn helped the population grow tremendously. Africa: Two native crops of Americas—corn & peanuts--among most widely grown today Scholars estimate one-third of all food crops grown in the world are of American origin!

Let’s Review What was the Columbian Exchange? What was the only domesticated animal in Latin America? Which animals did the Europeans bring to Latin America? What are some native crops that the Europeans brought back to Europe? What did many natives die from? Why did diseases kill so many natives? Who did the Europeans get to work on plantations and in mines when most of the native population had died? What is an example of a “traditional cuisine” that was created after the Columbian Exchange?