The Columbian Exchange

Who was Christopher Columbus? Italian explorer sailing for Ferdinand & Isabella of Spain Columbus wanted fame & fortune – he was to keep 10% of the riches he found along the way, received a noble title and governorship of any lands he encountered. He was determined to find a direct water route west from Europe to Asia, but he never did. He accidentally found the Americas thinking that it was India. His journeys marked the beginning of centuries of trans- Atlantic conquest and colonization. http://www.history.com/shows/mankind-the-story-of-all-of-us/videos/mankind-the- story-of-all-of-us-columbus-sails-west

What was the Columbian Exchange? The widespread transfer of animals, plants, culture, people, technology, diseases, and ideas between the Old World & the New World.

New World to Old World Food such as  : Animal: Turkeys  Tobacco   Corn Potatoes Beans Peanuts Sweet potatoes Squash Pineapple Chocolate and Vanilla Animal: Turkeys  Tobacco   Sand fleas 

Old World to New World Cows, oxen, horses, donkeys, pigs and sheep  Sugar cane  Bananas, coffee beans, rice and lettuce  Diseases (humans & animals)  Rat infestation  Exploitation of workers and slavery 

Triangular Trade Trade in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries that involved shipping goods from Britain to West Africa to be exchanged for slaves, these slaves being shipped to the West Indies and exchanged for sugar, rum, and other commodities, which were in turn shipped back to Britain.

Mercantilism Definition: Mercantilism is a system in which a country attempts to amass wealth through trade with other countries, exporting more than it imports. It was the main school of economic thought from the 15th through the 18th Centuries, and was the push behind much of the exploration and colonization of other lands — and many of the wars — that happened during that time.