The Columbian Exchange Mr. Condry’s Social Studies Class

Before 1492 Two very different ecosystems Two sets of culturally diverse peoples Two sets of flora and fauna Two different disease pools

These ecosystems had been developing in biological isolation for thousand and thousand of years. This meant: two different disease pools two sets of flora and fauna two sets of culturally diverse peoples.

“...all the trees were as different from ours as day from night, and so the fruits, the herbage, the rocks, and all things.” -- Christopher Columbus

Two biological ecosystems interchanged to create a new world ecology.

When Christopher Columbus brought these two hemispheres (these two very different worlds) in contact with one another by crossing the Atlantic in 1492, he effectively brought together two biological ecosystems which then interchanged over the years to create a new world ecology. The development of this intermixed world ecology had profound consequences for humans.

According to historian Alfred Crosby, the exchange of plants, animals and pathogens between the two hemispheres was biologically “the most spectacular thing that has ever happened to humans," and he coined the phenomenon the Columbian Exchange.

An Exchange of Pathogens The smallpox virus

Fighting Pathogens People of the old world became fully immune to most diseases by: domesticating pigs, horses, sheep and cattle, they had infected themselves with a wide array of pathogens. centuries of war Exploration city building

A Demographic Collapse Aztecs afflicted with Smallpox In Mexico alone, the native population fell from roughly 30 million in 1519 to only 3 million in 1568. Modern-day victims of smallpox

Old World Diseases Some European diseases introduced to the New World: Smallpox mumps measles whooping cough cholera, gonorrhea yellow fever influenza.

Livestock

Livestock Concerns The first contingent of horses, cattle, chickens, dogs, sheep and goats arrived with Columbus on the second voyage in 1493. The animals, preyed upon by few or no American predators, troubled by few or no American diseases, and left to feed freely upon the rich grasses, roots and wild fruits of the New World, reproduced rapidly.

A Plague of Sheep Led to the extinction of certain plants, animals, and Native Americans

Chickens and Eggs Considered one of the greatest gifts from the Spaniards because they were plentiful.

The Cowboys of the Americas Vaquero Gaucho Cowboy Llanero

Horses and other livestock Horses were valued for the many tasks, but especially for transportation Donkeys, oxen and mules were used as pack animals Once the animal died they could be used for leather and other goods.

The greatest impact of the Columbian Exchange was the exchange of different food crops. Sweet Potatos Potatos Cassava Wheat

The Exchange of Plants and Animals Originally from the Western Hemisphere Potato Maize (corn) Manioc (cassava, tapioca) Sweet potato Tomato Cacao (chocolate) Squash Chili peppers Pumpkin Papaya Guava Tobacco Avocado Pineapple Beans (most varieties, including phaseolus vulgaris) Peanuts Certain cottons Rubber Turkeys Originally from the Eastern Hemisphere Sugar Olive oil Various grains (Wheat, rice, rye, barley, oats) Grapes Coffee Horses Cattle Pigs Goats Sheep Chickens Various fruit trees (pear, apple, peach, orange, lemon, pomegranate, fig, banana) Chick peas Melons Radishes A wide variety of weeds and grasses Cauliflower Cabbage

An Increase in Food Supply Helped Populations to Rise

Maize/Corn Increased food supply around the world. China more than doubled in population due to the new American food crop

Sugar, Tobacco and Slavery

Sugar Old world crop Thrived in tropical climate of the Caribbean and northeastern Brazil. Increased the demand for the Atlantic slave trade to 9.3 million

MAP 26.2 The Atlantic slave trade, 1500-1800.

The Columbian Exchange

The effects of the Columbian exchange are still with us today. Bit by bit, we are becoming more homogenized, and the world is becoming smaller.