The Columbian Exchange

Definition: exchange of plants and animals between Old World (Europe, Africa and Asia) and New World (Americas)

Reasons for Exploration: Three G’s

Unintentional Effects: spread of food allowed for population growth Animals had many effects Disease killed up to 90% of Native people changes in populations all around the world Natives died Africans increase because of corn and peanut China increase because of potato and peanut Europe increases because of potato and corn Ten million African slaves sent to America

Europeans Contributed: Christianity Diseases- influenza, smallpox, typhoid, measles, malaria, yellow fever, cholera, and bubonic plague Some of these diseases were because they had gotten them from the domesticated animals (influenza from ducks and chicken pox from chickens)

Europeans Contributed: Sugar, cotton, rice, wheat, barley, oats, rye, turnips, onions, cabbage, lettuce, peaches, pears, vanilla Dogs, horses, donkeys, pigs, cattle, goats, sheep, barnyard fowl

Europeans Contributed: Sugar: developed in SE Asia, to Europe by 1st Crusade; combined with coffee, tea, rum or chocolate it became an addictive stimulant Horse: to Americas on Columbus’ 2nd voyage (with sugar); used to conquer the Aztecs, changed life for Native Americans in the North by 1750 (some gave up farming for nomadic hunting)

Native Americans Contributed: Labor (mostly forced) Potato, corn, squashes cocoa, tobacco, pineapples, papaya, avocados, cotton Silver and gold dogs, llamas, guinea pigs potato: many varieties- hardiness in cold weather, disease resistant; much of Europe became dependent on them as they provide more food per acre than any other crop and grow in poor soils corn: double the yield of wheat per acre

Effects of Columbian Exchange on modern world Main diet of Southern Africa: maize (corn) What is the main crop of Kansas and Argentina? wheat What is the main crop of the Rio Grande valley? Rice Could Cortes and Pizarro have conquered the Aztec and Inca without disease and the horse? Modern examples of migrating flora and fauna AIDS Killer bees- 1956 from Africa to Brazil Zebra mussels- from Europe mid 1980’s- disrupt the food chain and damage ships and pipes throughout The Great lakes and Upper Mississippi River

The Geography of Food Why was the potato grown in Europe? Effects: Overall Irish Why was sugar in demand in the 15th to 19th centuries? How and where was the demand met? African How have Western foods changed Japan?