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The Columbian Exchange

Page history last edited by Robert W. Maloy 1 year ago


The Columbian Exchange is a term used to describe the exchange of goods, disease, cultures and populations during 1450 - 1750.


It is also referred to as the Triangle Trade.

 

Columbus in Sight of Land ~ Issued 1893

Columbus in Sight of Land ~ Issue of 1893


Link to more about the Columbian Exchange



Can You Name the Domesticated Plants and Animals of the Columbian Exchange?

 

 The Columbian Exchange, Crash Course video.

 

 

  Link: Enslaved and Free African Americans in the 18th Century

 

Svalbard Seed Bank and Global Food Histories

 

The Bubonic Plague and Its Social and Economic Effects

 

 

New connections between the Eastern and Western hemispheres resulted in the Columbian exchange.



During the time global trade resulted in the spread of many different goods. In particular food between the Americas and the rest of the world was a major commodity of the time. One of the best examples of this would be through the trading of potatoes. Potatoes became such an important part of the Irish diet that when the potato blight hit in the mid 19th century, up to one million Irish men died to a lack of other food staples at the time (1).

 

  • Here is another link showing how important corn was at the time, and how important it still is today: The Corn Trade.


Food was not the only thing passed between traders.

 

  • Many European settlers brought with them diseases to the Americas where Native Americans had little resistance to them. Because Europeans lived in close proximity to domesticated animals due to their high value, they developed an immunity to small pox which was transferred from those animals. People in the Americas were not exposed due to this cultural difference, and as such became infected. The development of small pox and other diseases allowed for the Europeans to more easily colonize the Americas, a tool of major importance in developing the Colombian exchange (2).

 

Learning plan to used in teaching about the Columbian Exchange: Lesson Plan.

 

Primary Source from Christopher Columbus that also can be used in lessons: Columbus Primary Source Exercise

 

The term Columbian exchange comes from Alfred Crosby's book of the same name: The Columbian Exchange: Biological and Cultural Consequences of 1492 (Westport, CT: Praeger, 1972, revised, 2003).

  • Crosby later amplified this work with Ecological Imperialism: The Biological Expansion of Europe 900-1900 (Cambridge University Press, 1993).

 

  •  He has continued to write about the exchange in various publications, including a short article in History Now.

 

  • The most recent major work updating Crosby's central thesis is Charles Mann's 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created (New York: Knopf, 2011).


For the quincentenary of the Columbus's landfall in the Americas the Smithsonian put on a useful exhibition and created an excellent publication, with help from the National Council of the Social Studies on aspects of the Columbian Exchange, called Seeds of Change.

The Columbian exchange was a large scale trade operation between the continents of Europe, Africa and the Americas. This transfer of plants, animals, ideas and people brought changed these continents lifestyles and cultures in major ways. Places known for 'staples' such as Italy and tomato sauce wouldn't have ever occurred without this trade.

The following map shows what was exchanged in the Columbian Exchange:

Here is a lesson plan from PBS on the Columbian Exchange.

For more about the Columbian Exchange

 

 

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