Columbian Exchange & Spanish Conquest: Quick Notes

Columbian Exchange

  • Definition: Colinbulian Exchange is the permanent linkage between the Eastern and Western Hemispheres created by Columbus; not merely a discovery but a cross-hemisphere exchange.

  • Major transfers:

    • From the Americas to the Old World: corn, sweet and white potatoes, beans, peanuts, squash, peppers, tomatoes, pumpkins, pineapples, cacao, and other crops.

    • From the Old World to the Americas: rice, wheat, barley, oats, wine grapes, melons, coffee, olives, bananas, Kentucky bluegrass, daisies, dandelions.

  • Diseases and demographic impact:

    • Old World diseases in the Americas: smallpox, typhus, diphtheria, bubonic plague, malaria, yellow fever, cholera.

    • From the Americas to the Old World: syphilis reached Asia within 50 years of Columbus.

    • Population effects in the Americas: pre-contact population around 50{,}000{,}000; by 1600 around 3{,}000{,}000; later rebound to about 7.5{,}000{,}000.

    • Hispaniola: population collapsed from 4{,}000{,}000 to 125 by 1570.

    • One in three died in 10 years from smallpox in Central Mexico.

  • Other outcomes:

    • Introduction of horses and other Old World animals altered Native American lifeways.

    • The Atlantic becomes a major, global trade route; a truly global trade network emerges.

    • The Columbian Exchange contributed to population growth in Europe, Asia, and Africa due to new crops (e.g., potatoes) despite devastation in the Americas.

Spanish Conquest of the Aztecs

  • Key figures and setup:

    • Hernán Cortés; Montezuma II; Malinalli (La Malinche) as translator; Tlaxcalan and other Indigenous allies; priests accompanying the expedition.

  • Path to conquest:

    • Cortés lands on the coast and burns his ships to motivate troops.

    • Forms alliances with local groups; assembles a force of a few hundred soldiers plus 200{,}000 indigenous allies.

    • Gains access to Montezuma II and the Aztec capital through translation; later captures and kills Montezuma.

    • Disease (smallpox) spreads; Cortés receives aid from indigenous enemies; he defeats the Aztecs and expands control beyond Tenochtitlan.

  • Fall of the Aztec Empire:

    • The combination of disease, allies, and superior technology leads to the fall of the Mexica capital, Tenochtitlan, and the rapid expansion of Spanish authority.

    • The Spanish are later rewarded with governance over the Yucatán; Mexico City is built atop the former Aztec capital.

  • Role of disease and power:

    • Disease devastates indigenous populations (e.g., Hispaniola collapse from 4{,}000{,}000 to 125).

    • Allied native forces and European technology (guns, swords, horses) drive conquest.

  • Terminology and aftermath:

    • The Aztec empire is often referred to as the Mexica; extensive conquest extends Spanish colonization in the Americas.

  • Next: Part II covers the Inca and the American Southwest.