Columbian Exchange

Columbian Exchange: the exchange of diseases, ideas, food crops, and populations between the New World and the Old World following Christopher Columbus’ voyage (1492)

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Old World: the entire Eastern Hemisphere

• Gained:

  • Discoveries of new supplies of metals
  • New staple crops
  • Potatoes
  • Sweet potatoes
  • Maize
  • Cassava
  • Less calorie-intensive foods
  • Tomatoes
  • Chili peppers
  • Pineapples
  • Cacao
  • Peanuts
  • Other stuff
  • Tobacco
  • Sugar 
  • Coffee

• Losses:

  • Enabled the transmission of diseases
  • They gained syphilis
  • They gave:
    • Smallpox
    • Cholera
    • Measles
    • Typhus

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Effects on Africa and Asia

• European exploration / colonization aided by the New World discovery of quinine

  • Quinine: the first effective treatment for malaria

• Cultivation of crops in the Americas and devastation of Native populations from disease = demand for labor

  • Demand met with abduction of 12 million Africans (16th - 19th cent)

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Disease from the Old World to the New World

• Major killers: smallpox, measles, whooping cough, chicken pox, bubonic plague, typhus, malaria
• Native populations were immunologically defenseless
• 80-95% of the Native American population was decimated within the first 100-150 years following 1492

Syphilis

• Spread from the New World to the Old World

• Syphilis was fatal, and its symptoms were more severe

  • Symptoms: genital ulcers, rashes, large tumors, severe pain, dementia, eventual death
  • Became less fatal over the years - by the 17th century it was what it is today

• Two theories:

  • Columbian Hypothesis: the disease causing agent originated in the New World and was spread in 1493 by Christopher Columbus and his crew, who acquired it from the Natives of Hispaniola through sexual contact. After coming back, men joined the military campaign of France and exposed local prostitutes to the disease. They spread it further when they returned home.
  • Evidence: bacterium causing syphilis arose recently in humans and is closely related to a variation of a disease found in South America
  • Pre-Columbian Hypothesis: the disease always existed in the Old World, but it hadn’t been differentiated from other diseases with similar symptoms. 
  • The debates over the true origins of venereal syphilis have been a direct consequence of the difficulty in distinguishing syphilis from other diseases and left similar bone scars.

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The Transfer of New World foods to the Old World

• IMPACT: population explosion, Industrial Revolution
• The Columbian Exchange expanded the global supply of agriculture
  • Introduced previously unknown species to the Old World that resulted in caloric and nutritional improvements, complimented existing foods, or evolved local cuisine,
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• The discovery of the Americas gave the Old World land to grow crops that were in high demand.

  • Sugar, coffee, soybeans, oranges, bananas

• New World foods today are an important part of our diets.

  • Staple crops: potatoes, maize, cassava
  • Primary benefit of the New World staples: they could be grown in Old World climates that were unsuitable for the cultivation of Old World staples
  • The potato had the biggest impact
  • Provides an abundant supply of calories and nutrients
  • Able to sustain life when consumed as the only food when supplemented with milk or butter
  • Spurred population growth
  • Increased urbanization
  • Caprisicum pepper
  • Ancestor to most peppers consumed today
  • Impact on cuisine - paprika, chili peppers, spicy kimchi
  • Health advantages
    • Nutritious: vitamin a, b, c, magnesium, iron
    • Aids digestion
    • Treats pain, respiratory disorders, shingles, toothache, and arthritis
  • Tomatoes
  • Originated in South America
  • Brought to Asia by Spaniards in 1564
  • Weren’t cultivated in China until the 20th century
  • English travelers reported Spanish tomatoes in North Africa 1671
  • Don’t preserve well, so canning process increased shelf life
    • Before 1890, canning was costly and manual
    • Mechanization of canning at the turn of the 20th century lowered the cast and increased tomato consumption
  • Tomatoes are consumed most by Old World countries
  • Health benefits
    • Vitamins a and c
    • Lycopene may help reduce cancer
  • Cacao
  • Columbus first brought back cacao pods after his 2nd voyage to the New World
  • First cultivated in 1590 by the Spanish off the coast of Africa
  • First used in expensive chocolate drinks
  • Spain → italy → france
  • Chocolate drinks quickly changed from being novelty drinks to a regular drink for the middle class
  • Spanish held a monopoly on production and trade until the 17th century
    • French and Dutch also produced
    • Cultivation came late to Africa but now African countries are among the world’s largest producer of cacao
  • Has lifting psychological effects
  • Has high energy output - important for expeditions where they could only carry a little food
  • Plain Vanilla
  • Comes from forests in s mexico, c america, and northern s america
  • Became popular quickly in spain
  • Luxury for the wealthy
  • French couldn’t cultivate it until after 1836
  • Tobacco
  • Native Americans began to use tobacco 1 bc
    • Used as a hallucinogen during religious ceremonies, painkiller
  • Quickly adopted by Europeans
    • First used as a medicine
  • In England, chiefly used by sailors
  • Used as currency
    • Virginia made it legal 1642
    • Maryland used almost only tobacco currency
    • During American Rev War, the gov used tobacco as collateral for part of its loans from France
    • Buddhist monks used tobacco seeds as payment
  • Use increased around ww1
  • Negative health effects discovered in 1950s
  • Anti-smoking campaigns developed over next four decades
  • Coca
  • Leaves grown from bushes in the Andes
  • Incans chewed them during religious rituals
  • Spanish settlers brought the practice back to Europe
  • Coca Cola initially contained marinated coca leaves, substitute for alcohol when it was illegal
  • Cocaine is highly traded but illegal

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Improved cultivation of Old World foods in the New World

• Old World crops today have 26%+ of their total production in the New World

• Old World crops flourished in the New World, and New World crops flourished in the Old World.

  • New/Old World = east/west, so plants could find a climate similar to their native
  • Transplanted crops flourished bc they didn’t have the pests and parasites that had co-evolved with them

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Forced and voluntary migrations to the Americas

• 16th-19th centuries
• trans-Atlantic slave trade
• Trade fueled by high demand for labor
  • Spread of Old World diseases -> native americans caused low population in New World
  • Cultivation of Old World crops were well-suited to New World soils and climates
• In 19th century, flow of slaves slowed bc of British
• Employers resorted to indentured laborers
  • Some voluntary. Many died on the voyage. Denied the right to citizenship after their contracts ended

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