Download The Columbian Exchange: A Clash With Nature

COLUMBIAN EXCHANGE
Columbus’s voyages started the Columbian Exchange - a swap of peoples, plants,
animals, diseases, and ideas between Europe (Old World) and the Americas (New World).
The conquering European countries of Spain and Portugal, as well as the indigenous
peoples of Latin America, would be transformed from these interactions.
PLANTS
Europe gained many new crops from their American colonies. Tomatoes, which
most people associate with Italian cuisine, were originally grown by the Aztec civilization
in Central America. Potatoes didn’t start out in Ireland, but rather in the Inca empire
which stretched across South America. In fact, Europeans were afraid to eat the potato at
first because it looked similar to a poisonous plant that grew in Europe. Other new plants
that came from the Americas to Europe included the cacao bean for chocolate, maize
(corn), peanuts, and squash.
Plants that came from Europe to the Americas included citrus fruits, apples from
northern Europe, sugar, and wheat. Sugar cane was probably the crop with the largest
impact on the Americas. Europeans realized that the crop thrived in tropical
environments in the Americas, like the Caribbean and Brazil. Europeans imported slaves
from West Africa to produce sugar cane and it became a very profitable business.
Eventually, Europeans would use slave labor for other crops, including rice, indigo,
and cotton. African slaves brought to the Americas their own crops, and rice and yams
were spread with the help of these slave populations.
ANIMALS AND DISEASES
Europeans had domesticated a far greater range of animals when they came to the
“New World” of the Americas- pigs, cows, chickens, and particularly horses were all
brought by Europeans to the Americas. This gave European conquistadors, settlers, and
traders that came to the Americas advantages like the ability to travel quickly, and plow
vast fields. In particular, the horse allowed the Spanish conquistadors (conquerors) to
move faster than the native peoples they conquered, and was a significant advantage in
taking over the civilizations of the Aztec and Inca. Another advantage of bringing these
animals to the Americas was the diseases they carried. While Europeans had built
immunity to the diseases of their animals, the indigenous populations of the Americas
had no defense against them. Estimates show that between 80-95% of native peoples
died due to diseases like smallpox, measles, cholera, and influenza.
The contributions of animals that the Americas gave to Europe isn’t as significant,
however, it should be mentioned. They included turkeys, guinea pigs, and llamas.
Diseases from the Americas to Europe also didn’t have the same impact as those brought
to the Americas, but included polio.
RELIGION
Almost immediately after conquering vast territories in the Americas, both the
Spanish and Portuguese sent religious representatives to the New World to convert the
people. Government officials believed that if they could convert the native populations to
Christianity that they would be easier to control and govern as European colonies. Often,
native peoples were forced to convert under threats of violence or even death by their
European rulers.