1.3 Columbian Exchange

The Columbian Exchange

The global diffusion of biological species that took place after 1492, after voyages of exploration by Columbus and other European mariners.

How was the Columbian Exchange different from other rounds of biological exchange?

It had much more profound consequences than earlier rounds and involved lands with radically different plants, animals, and diseases

How did European voyages of exploration permanently alter the world?

They set off a round of biological exchange that created links between biological zones (like the eastern and western hemispheres) that had never before been connected, altering the environment and world’s human geography

Diseases

• Beginning early 16th century, diseases brought huge demographic losses to indigenous peoples (americas+pacific islands)

• People in the western hemisphere did not have immunity; Europeans weren’t really affected

• beginning in 1519, smallpox ravaged the aztec empire

• Between 1500-1800, more than 100 million people may have died of diseases imported in

TOF: Over time, the Columbian exchange decreased the human population

FALSE, it increased it because of the global spread of food crops and animals it sponsored (despite the diseases)

Effect of American crops

They played prominent roles in the Columbian exchange. Eastern hemisphere only slowly developed a taste for them, but by 18th cent, maize+potatoes were very important in Eurasia

How did the Columbian exchange affect population growth?

It provided a better-nourished world, which began 18th cent and continued to now. Caused by the global exchange of food crops and animals

What were some of the migrations/spread of human populations that happened during the Columbian exchange?

During 1500-1800, largest group of migrants were the enslaved Africans (involuntary). However, a sizable group were Europeans who traveled to the Americas, settling mostly in the Western hemisphere but also to other places, where diseases had killed most indigenous populations.