THE COLUMBIAN EXCHANGE
The Columbian Exchange describes the enormous widespread exchange of plants,
animals, foods, human populations, communicable diseases, and ideas between the
Old World (Afroeurasia) and the New World (North & South America, including the
Caribbean) that was initiated on October 12th, 1492. Christopher Columbus’ first
voyage to the New World (unintentionally) launched an era of large-scale contact
between the Old and New Worlds that resulted in this ecological and cultural
revolution: hence the name “Columbian” Exchange.
The Columbian Exchange eventually affected nearly every society on earth, bringing
destructive diseases that depopulated many societies, and also circulating a wide
variety of new crops and livestock that, in the long-term, increased rather than
diminished the global human population. The new interactions of formerly isolated
cultures with others led to irreversible alterations in most societies.
Directions: For each of the following items, attempt to identify those that were found
only in the Old World (Afroeurasia) and those found only in the New World (North &
South America, including the Caribbean) before 1492. Write “O” for Old World and “N”
for New World next to item. Next, place a check next to those items that you have
consumed in the past day.
___ goats
___ silkworms
___ horses
___ domesticated rabbits
___ pigeons
___ sheep
___ cows
___ rats
___ pigs
___ llamas
___ guinea pigs
___ turkeys
___ rubber (tree)
___ squash
___ potatoes
___ avocados
___ coca plant
___ vanilla
___ manioc/cassava/tapioca
___ bananas
___ peanuts
___ rice
___ blueberries
___ tobacco
___ tomatoes
___ cherries
___ sweet potatoes
___ pumpkins
___ cinnamon
___ lettuce
___wheat
___ cocoa
___ cantaloupes
___ soybeans
___ dandelions
___ maize/corn
___ pecans
___ coffee
___ pineapples
___ sugar cane
___ okra
___ cash crop production
___ gunpowder
___ plantation systems
___ yellow fever
___ smallpox
___ cholera
___ tuberculosis
___ measles
___ syphilis