Columbian Exchange

AP World History
Period 4
1450-1750
 What is the Columbian Exchange?
► The term was created by Al Crosby.
 A historian at the University of Texas.
► Defined as:
 “the contact between any two people geographically
separated from one another results in an ‘exchange’
of physical elements.”
► The 3 main elements are:
1. Animals
2. Plants
3. Microbes
 Animals

► Theonly domesticated animal in Latin America

before Europeans arrived, was the Llama.
 Turkeys were the only domesticated animal in North
America.
► Europeans brought:
 Cattle, chickens, donkeys, goats, horses, pigs, rabbits,
and sheep.
► Notall animals that Europeans brought came
directly from Europe.
 Some animals came from Africa and Asia, with the
Europeans
 Animals

► New animals completely changed the use of land.

► Significant environmental impact.
► European livestock multiplied quickly.
 Destroyed land with their hooves.
► Introduction of cattle and horses provided new
forms of transportation and mobility in warfare.
 Also provided hides and meat.
 Animals

► Animal fertilizer became an important part

of agricultural system.
► European horses, cattle, and pigs also
affected American lives.
 Beaver and other fur-bearing animals
significantly influenced the exchange between
the Americans and Europeans.
 Plants
► Europeans brought cash crops to the Americas
and took new cash crops back.
► To Europe:
 Avocados, beans, cashews, chili peppers, cacao, corn,
cotton, papayas, peanuts, pecans, pineapples, potatoes,
rubber, squash, strawberries, sweat potatoes, tobacco,
tomato, and vanilla.
► To the Americas:
 Bananas, black pepper, citrus fruits, coffee, grapes,
garlic, oats, onions, lettuce, peaches, pears, sugar, rice,
rye, and wheat.
 Plants

► Likethe animals, some came from Africa and Asia.

► New crops flourished in the Americas.
► Many indigenous plants were crowded out by new
crops and weeds.
► Old world crops were stronger.
 Had a more competitive original environment.
► Economy shifts to large scale agricultural
production.
 Very labor intensive.
► Europeans adopted crops from the Americas.
 Plants

► Foods such as bananas and wheat that

diversified American diets.
 Other crops like sugar cane were intended for
cultivation through exploited labor.
► American crops such as maize and potatoes
had a big impact on European agriculture.
 Old World
Microbes
► European diseases were particularly harsh.
► The most common diseases exchanged were:
 Smallpox, measles, diphtheria, whooping cough, chicken
pox, bubonic plague, scarlet fever, and influenza.
► Nearlyall of the European diseases were
communicable by air and touch.
► The pathway for these diseases was invisible to
both Native Americans and Europeans.
 European Beliefs regarding Disease
► At the time when Europeans arrived in the
Americas, they had no theories about
germs.
► Illness in Europe was considered to be the
consequence for sinning.
► Native Americans were seen as “heathen” or
non-Christian.
 Therefore, they were regarded as sinners and
subjected to illness as a punishment.
 Rapid Spread of Disease
► In most cases, Native Americans became
sick even before they had direct contact
with Europeans.
► Trade goods traveling from tribe to tribe
through middlemen were often the vehicle
for the spread of disease.
► There is no creditable evidence that
Europeans intentionally infected trade items
in order to infect Native Americans.
 Smallpox

► Deadliestdisease that the Europeans

brought to the Americas.
► Central Mexico’s population decreased from:
 25 million in 1510 to less than 1 million in 1605.
► Hispaniola’s population decreased from:
 1 million in 1492 to 46,000 in 1512.
► North America’s population decreased.
 90% of Native Americans were gone within 100
years of the landing on Plymouth Rock.
 Why were Europeans Immune?
► Has everything to do with their original environment.
► Most pathogens originate with animals or insects.
► Domesticated animals and plants were more
numerous in Europe.
► Greater diversity meant more ecological protection.
► However, Europeans did bring home some American
diseases such as syphilis.
 Demographic Shift
► Native American population decreases.
 Diseases were a major factor.
►This assisted European conquest and accelerated
cultural change.
► Europeans need labor.
 Import African slaves.
► Mixingof all three populations
occurred in varying degrees.
 Demographic Shift
► Europeans moved to the Americas to
oversee economic production.
► Focused economic efforts on mineral wealth
or producing cash crops.
 American economic system was changes to met
the needs of Europeans.
► Traditionalforms of hunting/gathering and
agriculture were disrupted.
 Native Americans became dependant on
European manufactured goods.
 Demographic Shift
► European settlements introduced Christian
institutions and new forms of government.
 Disrupted traditional Native American cultural
and political processes, suppressed them, or
destroyed them.
 Columbian Exchange
Class Questions
1. Why, and in what ways, was the Columbian
Exchange a particularly significant case of global
contact?
2. Was western Europe the chief beneficiary of the
exchange? Explain why or why not.
3. What balance was there between the economic
dependency of the Americas and the ideas,
technology, and goods they received from Europe?
4. How is the Columbian Exchange seen as an
ecological frontier?
5. How did microbial exchanges shape human
history?