Name ____________________________________ Date______________________________ Activity 3.6 Key
Title: How Did the Exchange of Goods and Products Change the World?
Source: Our Worldviews: Explore, Understand, Connect
Key Words/Concepts Defined
Meso-America: An area that ancient
civilizations lived in stretching from central
Mexico to Nicaragua.
Author: Levin, Moline & Redhead
Pages 112-113
Main Idea
The exchange of products and goods during the
‘Age of Discovery’ changed the way people lived
throughout the world.
Write an article summary in your own words. Do
not list facts. Give an overview.
The exchange of products and goods
during the ‘Age of Discovery’ changed the way
people lived throughout the world. Europeans
What are the facts? List at least five.
gained the most from this trade as they got food
like beans, corn and potatoes. All of these crops
European exploration led to the exchange
of foodstuffs, metals, plants, animals and
diseases that affected economies and
traditional way of lives of people around
the world.
became basic to European diets. The indigenous
Europeans not only change the newly
discovered land with their advanced
technologies but were in fact changed by
the products of the Americas like rubber,
canoes and pharmaceutical plants.
were confronted with epidemic disease that wiped
An estimated 75 to 90 percent of
indigenous populations were killed due to
European epidemic diseases like smallpox,
tuberculosis and measles
populations of the Americas may have benefitted
from gaining draught animals and advanced metal
technologies but paid an ultimate price as they
out nearly 90% of the inhabitants.
List your questions (at least two).
Did Europeans catch any indigenous diseases?
What food stuffs did Europeans introduce to North
Staple crops like corn and beans were
and South America?
exported to Europe from the Americas.
It appears many foods were imported into
Europe from the Americas in exchange
draught animals and metal technologies
were shipped from Europe.
Reflect: What beliefs in the Western European worldview led to European imperialism over
much of the world?
Belief – The colonies and lands controlled by European countries were there to further the
interests and increase the wealth of the controlling country.
• European ethnocentrism promoted the belief that they were culturally and politically
superior; had little regard for Indigenous peoples and their cultures.
• Indigenous people did not follow the strict societal rules of European society and so were
thought to be “barbarous”.