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Columbian Exchange: Difference between revisions
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* the exchange, or transfer, or plants, animals and | * the exchange, or transfer, or plants, animals, disease, people, and cultures to and from the Americas and the rest of the world | ||
** followed the European discovery of the Americans by Christopher Columbus in 1492. | |||
* the Columbian Exchange marks a dramatic turning point in world history with tremendous consequences upon world interactions and outcomes | |||
== Background == | |||
Having been populated by hunter-gatherers starting 14-20,000 years before Christ and almost no contact, or none with any degree of continuity, with the rest of the world until Columbus' first visit to the Caribbean in 1492, the peoples of the Americans populated the Americas and developed their societies independently of the rest of the world. | |||
In other words, the societies of the Americas evolved independently of the rest of the world and with distinct environmental conditions. While developing agriculture across the Americas, and urbanized population centers with complex governments in some areas, by the time of Columbus' arrival, the peoples of the Americas had not developed technologies that had long before spread across Eurasia and Africa, especially writing and metallurgy. | |||
Additionally, with the geographic axis of the Americas as largely north-south, and with the geographic barriers separating north and south America (and within each), these societies did not as extensively interact with one another as societies had across Eurasia and north Africa. Trade was extensive, but in the absence of geographic facilitators of exchange and the horse, which had gone extinct in the Americas from ice sheet climate change and human hunting. | |||
Columbus | == Columbus == | ||
[[File:GGS-ultimate-proximate-factors p87 w-Americas-added.jpg|thumb| | [[File:GGS-ultimate-proximate-factors p87 w-Americas-added 2.jpg|alt=|thumb|Ultimate & proximate factors analysis for Eurasia and Americas]] | ||
=== Spanish conquest === | === Spanish conquest === | ||
* a core question about the Columbian exchange is why did the Spanish conquer the | * a core question about the Columbian exchange is: | ||
** why did the Spanish invade and conquer the Native Americans and the Native American empires did not invade and conquer Spain? | |||
* Jared Diamond's "Guns, Germs and Steel" explores this question | * Jared Diamond's "Guns, Germs and Steel" explores this question | ||
* Diamond's analysis shows that the "broad" or very long-term causality of the outcome that that Spanish conquered the Americas and not the other way around is due to geography, notably: | * Diamond's analysis shows that the "broad" or very long-term causality of the outcome that that Spanish conquered the Americas and not the other way around is due to geography, notably: | ||
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*** the Americas lacked animals that are appropriate for food consumption and transport | *** the Americas lacked animals that are appropriate for food consumption and transport | ||
**** especially the horse | **** especially the horse | ||
*** many | *** many contagious diseases originated from human proximity to domesticated animals | ||
*** lacking those animals, the Americans had no immunity to Eurasian diseases | *** lacking those animals, the Americans had no immunity to Eurasian diseases | ||
** these combinations yielded advantages to Eurasian societies that the Spanish used in their conquest of the Americas, including | ** these combinations yielded advantages to Eurasian societies that the Spanish used in their conquest of the Americas, including | ||
*** technologies of guns and steel (used for weapons and tools) | *** technologies of '''guns''' and '''steel''' (used for weapons and tools) | ||
*** horses (war horses provided a considerable military advantage) | *** '''horses''' (war horses provided a considerable military advantage) | ||
*** disease, which killed off a tremendous number of Native Americans and weakened their centralized states | **** especially for mounting soldiers and those metal weapons | ||
*** '''disease''', which killed off a tremendous number of Native Americans and weakened their centralized states | |||
*** '''writing system''' which effectively transmitted information about other people and technologies | |||
**** ex. Marco Polo's journeys were tremendously helpful to Europeans as they learned details about China and other places | |||
**** Inca and Aztec writing systems existed | |||
***** but Inca system of “quipu" beads and strings effectively recorded information but not words | |||
****** see [[wikipedia:Quipu|Quipu (wikipedia)]] | |||
[[File:BRI_Columbian_Exchange.jpg|thumb|The Columbian exchange of crop plants, livestock, and diseases in both directions between the Old World and the New World]] | |||
== Plants == | == Plants == | ||
* the most important exchange was: | * the most important exchange was | ||
* deepest impacts include: | |||
* | === animals from the Americas === | ||
* turkeys | |||
=== from the Americas | === plants from the Americas === | ||
* beans | |||
* chocolate | |||
* maize (corn) | * maize (corn) | ||
* potatoes | |||
* sweet potatoes | |||
* tomatoes | |||
=== diseases from the Americas === | |||
* syphilis | |||
=== animals to the Americas === | |||
* chickens | |||
* cows | |||
* horses | |||
* pigs | |||
=== to the Americas === | === diseases to the Americas === | ||
* malaria (from Africa) | |||
* small pox | |||
=== plants to the Americas === | |||
* apples | |||
* coffee (from Africa) | |||
* wheat | |||
== Animals == | == Animals == | ||