Contents
What Was the Columbian Exchange
Main idea
The Columbian Exchange was a trade and exchange network across the Atlantic.
The Columbian Exchange was the spread of animals, cultures, diseases, ideas, plants, and people between the Americas, Western Africa, and Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries. The term describes the early centuries of trans-Atlantic trade and everything that moved across these new maritime trading routes.
The Columbian Exchange was
named after the Italian explorer Christopher Columbus
controlled by Europeans and European colonists
a wealth creator that enriched Europe and European colonists
built on the mass exploitation of indigenous Americans and enslaved Africans
Causes of the Columbian Exchange
Main idea
The exchange of goods across the Atlantic began following Europe’s conquest of the Americas and the construction of European-controlled societies and economies.
The Columbian Exchange resulted from Europeans’ exploration, conquest, and settlement of the Americas.
Once Europeans were in the Americas, the following secondary causes increased the amount of exchange in goods and people across the Atlantic.
The rapid expansion of European ancestry populations in the Americas
The development of a commercial economy in the Americas
The increased production of agricultural products on cash crop plantations
The forced relocation of enslaved Africans into the Americas
Effects of the Columbian Exchange
Main idea
The Columbian Exchange resulted in the diffusion of plants and animals, people, and diseases across the new Atlantic trade routes.
The Columbian Exchange changed the natural environments, cultures, and societies of the old and new worlds.
Plants and animals transferred across the Atlantic
The transfer of plants and animals between the old and new worlds began with the voyages of Christopher Columbus.
The transfer of crops: The Columbian Exchange resulted in the diffusion of thousands of varieties of plants across the Atlantic.
Crops that moved through the Columbian Exchange had many uses:
Food
Citrus
Wheat
Squash
Enjoyment
Coffee
Chocolate
Tobacco
Production
Cotton
Hemp
Decorative
Tomatoes (not originally food)
Medical
Cinchona tree (malaria medication)
- Crops to the Americas: The earliest European explorer and conquerors brought crops native to their homelands to the Americas to have access to familiar foods from home. The Spanish initially introduced wheat and grapevines to produce bread and wine typical in the Spanish diet and used in Catholic rituals. Imported sugarcane became one of the major crops across the Caribbean islands and along coastal regions of South America, where it was grown on large plantations using African slave labor. Enslaved Africans also introduced crops into the Americas that were common in their African diets—bananas, lemons, plantains, and rice.
- Crops to Europe, Africa, and Asia: New foodstuffs also moved from the Americas into Africa, Asia, and Europe. Maize, potatoes, beans, tomatoes, peanuts, tobacco, and cacao (chocolate) were among the plants that journeyed eastward. Tobacco, which Native Americans smoked or inhaled, became popular in Europe and resulted in the opening of large tobacco plantations in the Southern United States and the Eastern coast of Brazil.
The transfer of animals: Before the Europeans arrived, the Americas had few domesticable animals for labor, transportation, or to use as a food source. Europeans quickly began importing domesticated animals to serve those purposes. On Columbus’s second voyage (1493-1496), cattle, horses, and pigs were introduced into the Americas. Initially, most animals went from Europe to the Americas. Eventually, American animals like Alpacas, llamas, turkeys, and guinea pigs made their way to Europe.
Environmental impacts of the spread of plants and animals in the Americas: The introduction of new plants and animals in the Americas resulted in rapid ecological changes.
Deforestation increased as trees were cut down to make room for plantations.
Soil depletion increased as over-farming stripped lands of their nutrients.
Water pollution increased as waste from cash crop agriculture entered water supplies.
Invasive species like wild hogs took over habitats from native plants and animals.
Populations moved across the Atlantic
Millions of people crossed the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas.
Voluntary European migration: European migration into the region was largely voluntary, aside from some indentured servants.
6 million Europeans migrated to the Americas between 1492 and 1820
40%
were Portuguese or Spanish
5%
were French
50%
were British
The forced relocation of Africans: The importation of enslaved Africans into the Americas began soon after the arrival of Europeans in the Americas. Most enslaved people worked on agriculture plantations growing cash crops like sugar, cotton, and tobacco. Others worked as domestic servants in mines or on building projects.
400
The number of years enslaved Africans were trafficked into the Americas
10 million
The number of enslaved people sold out of Africa
1.5 million
The number of enslaved Africans that died crossing on the Atlantic
Millions
The number who died in dangerous jobs and from overwork
Diseases transferred across the Atlantic
Diseases brought by Europeans to the new world had devastating effects on indigenous populations.
These diseases included
- diphtheria
- influenza
- measles
- typhus
- smallpox
The impacts of disease on native populations: Within two hundred years of Europeans’ arrival in the Americas, millions of natives died from diseases. Afro-Eurasian populations had developed some genetic protection from these diseases from hundreds and thousands of years of exposure. Because they remained unexposed to these diseases before European arrival, Native Americans had no genetic protection. Some scholars say syphilis may have spread from the Americas to Afro-Eurasia, possibly by one of the crews of Christopher Columbus. However, this theory is controversial, with many medical historians arguing that syphilis was present in Afro-Eurasia before contact with the Americas.
1520: Smallpox epidemic (8 million deaths)
1545: exact causes are debated by scholars, but DNA evidence points to typhoid fever
1576: similar to 1545 outbreak and DNA evidence also points to a potential typhoid outbreak
The Columbian Exchange Primarily Benefited Europeans
Main idea
The benefits of the Columbian Exchange largely went to European peoples and societies.
The Columbian exchange’s benefits went to Europeans in Europe and those in the Americas of European ancestry. Indigenous Americans and African populations had their lands, resources, and labor stolen to create the wealth generated by the Columbian Exchange.
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EUROPEAN GAINS from the Columbian Exchange | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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INDIGENOUS AMERICAN AND ENSLAVED AFRICAN LOSES from the Columbian Exchange | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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