Is contact with other civilizations harmful or beneficial? Why?

Columbian Exchange = a) the biological exchange of plants, animals, human labor, and diseases between the Americans and Afro Eurasia beginning with Columbus’ first voyages b) a major impact of the Age of Exploration

Western Hemisphere

(N. and S. America)

Eastern Hemisphere

(Afro Eurasia)

Why was the Exchange so significant?

Some background• Because the Eastern Hemisphere (N.

and S. America) and the Western Hemisphere (Afro Eurasia) did not have contact since the first people came across the Bering Strait, the two sides of the world developed very differently.

B. When Columbus arrived, it began permanent contact between the “Old World” and the “New World”

• We know that if Columbus hadn’t done it– another person may have eventually done so, right

Why was the Exchange so signficant?

C. The two different sides of the world would exchange plants, animals, ideas, inventions, people, and diseases

D. This exchange changed the entire world(These are effects which will elaborate more on later in the PPt)

1. Think of the way human diet was change• For ex: starvation problems in Europe were fixed

with the introduction of corn (maize), potatoes, etc.

2. Think of the dying of the millions of natives in America due to no ______________________• We call this the “Great Dying”

What happens to two groups of people when they have no contact with each other for thousands of

years?

1. People developed different languages, ideas, technology, and ways of doing things.

2. They have differing native plants, animals, species– including disease

3. Afro Eurasia had immunity; North and South America– not so much!

Look back to your preview question…

What is your favorite meal?

Could you have had it before the Columbian Exchange?

Effects of the Columbian Exchange?

1. Both hemispheres were introduced to new foods and animals that changed entire societies.

2. Potatoes and corn became major food sources for Europeans allowing populations to increase greatly.

3. The introduction of pigs, cows, and horses gave new food sources and new animals for the Native Americans to use.

Effects of the Columbian Exchange (cont.)?

4. The diseases the Europeans brought with them killed up to 90% of the Native Americans in the New World. European conquest of the Native Americans was made easy by the effect disease had on the Natives.

5. The Native Americans had never been exposed to these diseases so their bodies could not fight them. Europeans had lived with these diseases for thousands of years and were not as likely to die from them.

Ultimate Effect of the Columbian Exchange:Processing Questions–

Answer in Paragraphs, show thought!

1. Would all of these things have happened if Columbus had not sailed?

2. Did the Columbian Exchange represent a more POSITIVE or NEGATIVE impact? Support your answer!!!

• Aztec Indians suffering from smallpox as a result of Cortez's invasion. Historians speak of the "columbian exchange" as a way of describing the result of the breakdown of the biological isolation that had existed between Europe and America for more than ten thousand years.

• Some parts of that exchange were positive. Negative consequences of the exchange included new diseases for both worlds that caused widespread epidemics and death.

• The most serious disease brought from the Americas to Europe was venereal disease; in exchange, the Indians received common childhood diseases to which Europeans had developed immunities, such as measles and smallpox. Smallpox virtually wiped out many of the peoples of North America.