1. The Columbian Exchange
For tens of thousands of years, the “New World” and the “Old World” had been biologically separate
The Columbian Exchange
Exchange of animals, plants, human populations (including slaves), communicable disease, culture, & ideas between the American and Afro-Eurasian Hemispheres following the voyage to the Americas by Christopher Columbus in 1492.
Term was coined in 1972 by Alfred W. Crosby, a historian at the University of Texas at Austin, in his work of environmental history.

2. Americas = no beasts of burden (except llamas), vast grasslands w/out grazing animals, no major disease epidemics
Diseases including smallpox, plague, typhoid, influenza, measles, chicken pox, whooping cough, malaria, diphtheria killed many millions of native people
Syphilis probably traveled from NW to OW
Many historians believe that cultivation of the rapidly growing potato in Europe in 1700s and 1800s led to a population boom

4. Plants & Animals of the Exchange
Cattle from Europe flourished in the Americas
Cassava (also known as manioc), was native to South America but spread widely in Asia, and was especially impactful Africa, where its edible root provided a major source of carbohydrates
Cassava/manioc is also known as tapioca

5. Impact on the Old World
1. Wealth of the colonies:
precious metals, natural resources, new food crops, slave labor, financial profits, colonial markets—provided one of the foundations on which Europe’s Industrial Revolution was built.
2. Growth
Colonies also provided an outlet for the rapidly growing population of European societies & represented an enormous extension of European civilization.

6. Impact on the Old World
3. Power
The colonial empires of the Americas changed the global balance of power
Brought Western European countries to the forefront
“Without a New World to deliver economic balance in the Old,” concluded a prominent world historian, “Europe would have remained inferior, as ever, in wealth and power, to the great civilizations of Asia.”

7. European Colonies in the Americas

8. Spanish Colonies: economies of exploitation
Mercantilism: strict regulation of trade – exclusively between colonies & home
Conquistadors – “conquerers”
Hernán Cortés - Aztecs of Mexico in 1521
Francisco Pizarro - Incas 1530s
Largest indigenous empire
West coast of South America (Peru+)
Colonial rule in South America
Commercial agriculture & mining economies
Version of Spanish class hierarchy
Mercantilism fails! Spain could not produce enough goods to supply South American needs. British colonies out-produced England, so GB tried to limit certain successful industries. English colonies wanted to buy sugar from Fr. West Indies instead of from England
Aztec leader Montezuma first may have believed that HC was returning god Quetzalcoatl, and tried to appease him with gold. HC allied with Aztec enemies, took M prisoner (he died), took over Aztec empire, and declared it “New Spain”
P tricked Inca ruler Atahualpa into meeting with him, then he had him garrotted (choked to death by use of an iron collar)

9. Spanish Colonies
Define the following terms. Then, use them to create a graphic organizer that describes the Spanish Colonial economy.
Debt Peonage
Conquistadors
Peninsulares
Hacienda
Repartimiento
encomienda

10. What do you know about Africa?
What is the climate?
What are the people like?
What is Africa’s history?
Africa is a _____________!
CONTINENT

11. AFRICA Africa 11 million sq. miles So what? 800+ ethnic groups
1000 languages
=11 billion fball fields!
AFRICA IS DIVERSE

12. The Dark Continent? Henry Stanley, late 1800s
"May I be selected to succeed him [Livingstone] in opening up Africa to the shining light of Christianity ?" 
Henry Stanley, late 1800s
"May I be selected to succeed him [Livingstone] in opening up Africa to the shining light of Christianity ?" 

13. African Kingdoms From 4000 BC on… Classical Egypt Kingdom of Kush
Axum (Aksum)
Ghana
Mali
Benin
Songhay (Songhai)

14. 1441 - Arrival of first Europeans (Portugal) GOLD (in Ghana)
enslaved Africans to Europe
Slavery in Africa already existed
VERY different: servitude ended after a period of time, could own property & marry…
NOT passed down to children from parents
Mid 1500s: Caribbean sugar plantations
Sugar plantations belied the need for a labor force. Later rice, tobacco, & cotton.
Enslavement of Native American peoples was unsuccessful, due to rampant illness (no immunity to Euro diseases), proximity to home (easier to run/hide)
European interest in African exports can be identified by the name they gave sections of Africa’s western coasts: The Ivory Coast, the Gold Coast, The Slave Coast, the Grain (or Pepper) Coast
“Chattel” Slavery – dehumanizing practice in which slaves were outright possessions of their masters, not recognized as persons under the law, could not claim control over their bodies/time/labor/children
Elmina means “the mine” in Portuguese. This castle was built at the site of a gold mine & where ivory and gold were traded

15. Plantation Economies
Sugarcane plantations required expensive land, equipment, & labor
Very costly! Esp labor… slave labor provided low-cost workers
West Indies
(France, GB)
Brazil
Southern US (Jamestown)
West Indies – sugar
Brazil – sugar (=95% of exports from ), cattle ranching, gold & diamond mining, food
US – tobacco, cotton

16. “Triangle Trade” The Atlantic Slave Trade
Europe
Sugar Tobacco
Liquor Guns Mfg Goods
“New World”
THE MIDDLE PASSAGE
Enslaved humans
Africa
…and so on
…for 300+ years…
ABOLITION: 1772-Britain … 1865-US

18. Effects of slave trade on Africa
A. Populations severely depleted
- esp. youth, strongest & most intelligent
B. Breakdown of communities
- slavers encouraged wars
C. Trade stopped
- no crops or goods to trade
D. Inventions, innovations & advancements were not made
E. Paved the way for Imperialism
Imperialism =
a strong country takes over a weaker one for its own benefit
*Overall impact:
Arrested development of
Africa for centuries