Download The Columbian Exchange

The Columbian Exchange
Define:_______________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
Type of organism
“Old World”/Europe traded:
“New World”/Americas traded:
Domesticated
animals
camel
cattle /cow
donkey
goat
horse
pig
rat
cat
chickens
goose
honey bee
mouse
rabbit
sheep
alpaca
turkey
guinea pig
llama
American Mink (furs)
North American Beavers (furs)
Domesticated
plants
black pepper
bananas
barley
cabbage
coffee
citrus fruits
lettuce
onion
pear
rye
sugar
turnip
apples
blueberry
cantaloupe
cinnamon
cucumber
garlic
oats
peach
rice
wheat
tea
olive
cashew, peanut, pecan
chicle (chewing gum base)
chili peppers (including bell pepper)
cocoa / chocolate
maize (corn)
squash (including pumpkin)
cassava
Beans
papaya
vanilla
pineapple
tomato
potato
sweet potato
rubber
tobacco
strawberry
cranberries
Infectious diseases
cholera (deadly)
influenza (deadly)
malaria (deadly)
measles (deadly)
Bubonic plague (deadly)
scarlet fever (deadly)
sleeping sickness (coma inducing)
smallpox (deadly)
tuberculosis (deadly)
typhoid fever (deadly)
yellow fever (African variety -deadly)
Chagas' disease
syphilis (deadly)
yaws
yellow fever (American variety - deadly)
Source: Alfred Crosby. The Columbian Exchange. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1975.
Questions:
1. Identify a key plant, animal, and disease that only the New World had and only the Old World had. Explain why these
animals, plants and diseases might have a large impact on the continent that they will be brought to.
Animals: _____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Foods: _______________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Diseases: _____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
2. Consider food dishes that would not exist had European and American plants/animals not been combined. Create a list
of at least 3 dishes that would not exist if the Columbian Exchange had not taken place.
1.
2.
3.
3. Consider the differences between the infectious diseases indigenous to each region. How do you think disease will
affect the colonization process? (explain your reasoning using details from the chart)
Some diseases you may not have heard of before:
Sleeping sickness: Sleeping sickness is infection with organisms carried by certain flies. It results in swelling of
the brain. Infection leads to drowsiness during the day, but insomnia at night. Sleep becomes uncontrollable as
the disease gets worse, and eventually leads to coma.
Chagas disease: Chagas disease is an illness spread by insects (related to the insects that cause sleeping
sickness). It is common in South and Central America. The early stage of infection is usually just swelling of
the eye and of the insect bite. The later stage leads to difficulty in swallowing, intestinal blockage, abdominal
pain, and inability to digest food properly.
Yaws: Yaws is a long-term (chronic) infection that mainly affects the skin, bones, and joints. In later years,
Yaws causes swelling of the fingers and bones, malformed bones, bone pain, and possibly disfigurement.
Yellow Fever: Yellow Fever is a viral infection that causes a fever (and other flu like symptoms), then organ
failure (kidney, liver, brain), seizures, hemorrhaging, and death.
The Triangular Trade developed out of the Columbian Exchange
From>
Europe: cash, finished goods
Americas: raw materials, cash crops, food
Africa: slaves
>To
Africa and Americas
Europe
Americas