THE COLUMBIAN EXCHANGE

CONTENTS

• What was the Columbian Exchange?
• Where did the exchange take place?
• What was traded?
• Which countries were involved?
• What long-lasting impact did it have?
• Map
• Some interesting facts

WHAT WAS THE COLUMBIAN EXCHANGE?

• American and Afro-Eurasian hemispheres.
• 15th and 16th centuries.
• Related to European Colonization.
• After Columbus's 1492 journey.
• Flora and fauna, and other diseases were a byproduct of the trade.

WHERE DID THE EXCHANGE TAKE PLACE?

• It was a distributed trade between the American and the Afro-Eurasian hemispheres.

WHAT WAS TRADED?

• Animals and plants
• Culture and human populations
• Technology and ideas

WHICH COUNTRIES WERE INVOLVED?

• In Europe, the main countries in the trade were England, France, Spain and Portugal.
• West Africa was involved in the slave trade which went to The Caribbean, Brazil, Peru and South-Eastern US.

WHAT LONG-LASTING IMPACT DID IT HAVE?

• Exchange of foods and animals had a major impact on later societies.
• Crops native to Americans became staple to Europeans.
• Food provided nutrition and helped people have longer lives.
• Europeans had never tasted tomatoes until contact with Americans.
• Activities like cattle ranching and coffee growing would not be possible without the Columbian Exchange.
• Native Americans were exposed to new diseases that that they weren't immune to.

MAP

• American plants and food products to Europe.
• European milk, cheese and sugar to America.

SOME INTERESTING FACTS

• Before the Columbian Exchange the Old World hadn't seen a tomato.
• Horses changed the lifestyle of many Native American tribes.
• Many Native American tribes were wiped out during the Exchange.
• Smallpox, measles, malaria and chicken pox were among the diseases that were transferred from the old world to the new world.
• Columbian Exchange led to many Africans being transported to the new world as slaves.