Background:
The Columbian Exchange, sometimes known as the Great Exchange, is a
term used to describe the massive exchange of agricultural goods, slave
labor, diseases, and ideas between the Eastern and Western Hemispheres, which
occurred after the year 1492. It started when Europeans discovered the Americas so
they decided to trade their goods for the natural resources of the Native Americans.
The Columbian Exchange began in 1492.
As a result of Columbus's voyages to the New World, a biological
pipeline between America and Europe opened up that had been apart
since before humans appeared on earth. The lands had drifted apart
that had once been connected. Some species of plants and animals
flourished in both areas, and some did not. There were many new
animals and plants in the Americas that Europeans had never seen,
and Europeans brought plants and animals to the New World that
America had never seen.
Identify what was being traded.
Patterns of Interaction
Think about your favorite foods. Chances are that at least one
originated in a distant land. Throughout history, the introduction of
new foods into a region has dramatically changed lives—for better
and worse.
Dependence on the potato, for example, led to a famine in
Ireland. This prompted a massive migration of Irish people to other
countries. In the Americas, the introduction of sugar led to riches for
some and enslavement for many others.
Some aspects of the Columbian Exchange had a
tragic impact on many Native Americans. Disease
was just as much a part of the Columbian Exchange
as goods and food. The diseases Europeans brought
with them, which included smallpox and measles,
led to the death of millions of Native Americans.
The Aztec Empire is conquered by Hernando Cortes in 1521.
Do you recall what animals and items were introduced to the Aztecs
upon his arrival?
"Hernando Cortés and the Spanish soldiers
confront the Indians," in Durán, La Historia antigua de la Nueva España, 1585
Library of Congress
"What must it have been like to be exposed in a
rush to a totally alien people, horses, steel, and
new and hideous diseases?"
Explain what the Columbian
Exchange was.
New World
North America
South America
Old World
Europe
Asia
Africa
Is one of your favorite
foods from the Old
World or the New
World?
Cocoa! Chocolate! Chocolatl!
For the Aztecs cocoa:
- Was a drink. They sometimes prepared it with vanilla and/or chili!
- Was a currency. Aztecs used chocolate to pay their taxes!
- Was a sun screen The oily layer floating in the chocolate drink was
used to protect the skin against the sun.
In the Aztec world cocoa had religious significance:
- Cocoa was believed to be of divine origin: the cocoa tree was a
bridge between earth and heaven.
- Human sacrifices to propitiate God or sun were first sanctified by
giving him chocolate.
- Cocoa beans were given to priest’s assistants at children’s coming
of age ceremonies.
- During marriage ceremonies, the couple drank a symbolic cup of
chocolate and exchanged cocoa beans.
- Aztecs believed that drinking chocolate gave mortals some of
Quetzalcoatl’s (God of learning and the wind) wisdom.
What do you use chocolate for?
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What are the pros and cons
(good and bad)
of the Columbian Exchange?