AP US History Summer Assignment
The Pre-Columbian Period and Making of the Atlantic World
Introductions and Directions
American History does not really begin with the formation of the English colonies and the
Revolution as many people would assume. It really begins even before Columbus fateful voyage.
This Period comprises the First Historical Period (1491-1607). The arrival of Europeans and later
Africans blended with a culture that was already ancient; Native Americans. This blend created
what came to be known as the "Atlantic World." The summer work for this year is designed to
accomplish three important goals. First, you will research aspects of early history using primary
and secondary sources. Secondly you will get your first experience analyzing sources using a
method called SOAPS that will be used all year. Finally, this will allow us to move quickly into
the Second Historical Period (1607-1754). As part of this process you will construct your first
DBQ essay of the year. I have included a very basic rubric that is similar to the one used by
College Board graders. Look over the rubric, instructions, and documents before you start
writing.
Your summer work will be due in class the first week of school (by mid-week) and will count for
you first test grade of the year. My standard deduction is 30 points off per day late. So, don't
procrastinate. This research must be typed and no larger than 12 font.
Analyzing Documents using SOAPS
The acronym S.O.A.P.S. provides students with prompts that provide them with a strategy for
dissecting and interpreting primary documents/political cartoons for higher order synthesis when
juxtaposed with specific factual information. When preparing a SOAPS assignment follow the
outline below. Be aware that we will be doing this very extensively this year as nearly the entire
AP European test is document based.
Who is the Speaker?
When interpreting the primary document or visual image, the student should immediately try to determine
the speaker of the document. If this is a work of art, photo, or political cartoon the "speaker" would
simply be the artist. Most times the speaker/artist is easily identifiable. Yet in other instances the speaker
may be confused with the author of the primary document who may be witness to an event including the
speaker. In other cases we might not be able to ID the speaker and we will have to write anonymous.
Once the speaker can be identified, the central focus for the student can now become: What facts are
known about the speaker and/or author? What are possible assumptions about the speaker’s frame of
reference and point of view? Note: (The source of document and any symbols used in the document can
add to the document’s voice.)
Another key part of the speaker section and in many ways the most important is analyzing for Bias/Tone/
and POV (point of view). You must include this discussion to receive credit for this section. You are
looking for key words and or phrases to reveal a certain viewpoint. Sometimes this is obvious and other
times you might have to write "neutral". Please note that the credit here comes from how you explain this
point. If a person has a bias, then say why you think so. If they have a neutral tone, then you must say
why. Your assessment might be different from someone else's here. This is why you must explain your
position.
What is the Occasion?
Often when interpreting primary documents, students need to be able to determine the time and place that
prompted the documents creation. Where and when was the source produced? And, how might this affect
the meaning of the document? Once determined, the occasion can help students interpret the larger
experiences/events of the time that the primary document originated from, allowing for students to draw
conclusions on the attitudes and emotions of the document. In this section you must always include a
date(s) to receive full credit! In some cases you may have to guess or estimate. Also, the date of the
source is what we are looking for and not when it was published as a source. Clearly, if your source is
from the Arrival of Columbus the date of the source would not be a book published in 1988!
Who is the Audience?
Primary documents more than likely have an audience that they intend to address. It may be one person or
a specific group of people. In determining the audience, students need to address the frame of reference
and point of view of the audience while attempting to determine how the primary document addressed the
needs of the intended audience. If the source is from a diary, then the audience might only be for that one
person. Be careful Once the audience is established students can make inferences as to how this might
affect the reliability of the primary document.
What is the Purpose?
Students need to consider the purpose of the text in order to develop the argument and the logic of the
primary document. Students need to make assumptions about the reasons behind the primary document.
The purpose may help establish inferences as to why the document originated. For example, was the
document intended to be a form of propaganda?
What is the Significance?
Why is this primary document important for historical researchers? After going through the process of
fleshing out the information in the primary document, students should be able to compose a definitive
statement(s). The definitive statement(s) may draw conclusions about the primary document in relation to
a larger question asked or prior specific factual information the student had as prior knowledge.
Sometimes the Significance and Purpose can be the same depending upon the source.
Research Questions
Some of the research questions below involve directed links but others will involve you doing a little
digging for the answers.
Native American Cultures
Use this link for your responses. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ancient/map-of-the-maya-world.html
1. What was the highpoint of Mayan Culture? Would European explorers have encountered the Mayans?
Why or Why not?
2. Click on the interactive map: What modern day countries comprised the ancient Mayan Empire?
3. Based upon what you read, what were some characteristics of the political structure found in Mayan
cultures?
Use this link for the your responses http://www.philtar.ac.uk/encyclopedia/latam/aztec.html
4. Examine the nature of Aztec History and Religion and answer the following:
a. In a few sentences and in your own words describe the nature of Aztec religion.
b. What were their chief deities?
c. What practice would have most shocked Europeans?
Use these links to help you with your responses http://www.historycentral.com/Indians/Before.html and
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0002130.html
4. Historians trace the lineage of most Native Americans from Asia (particularly
Siberia). Using your own examples or other sources, explain the origins of this theory and what
factors may have driven this early wave of immigration?
5. Choose FOUR of the regions listed on the first link above and complete the following: Explain what
role that geography likely played in the development of tribes in the region. Name important tribes in the
regions that you chose.
Use these links to help you with your responses http://www.legendsofamerica.com/il-cahokia.html and
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/daily/march/12/cahokia.htm
6. Cahokia, in southwest Illinois was a powerful empire and the largest urban complex
in North America (not surpassed until 18th century Philadelphia). It was the closest
resemblance to European empires of the 18th century to be found in North America.
However, when the Europeans arrived found it, Cahokia had long since been
abandoned. What are some of the theories that could account for its demise?
AFRICA IN THE 15TH AND 16TH CENTURIES
1. The vast majority of African-Americans today can trace their ancestry back to subSaharan Africa (also known as Senegambia). What modern day nations constitute the
Senegambia region today? Provide a brief geographical description of the region based
upon the following criteria: type of land, major rivers, climate, and other prominent
geographical features.
2. Powerful African empires once controlled Senegambia and West Africa. Name at least
THREE of these empires and any prominent emperors from the 13 th to 16th centuries.
3. Examine in some detail the nature of religious beliefs and practices among at least one tribe of the
Senegambian region. Your discussion should include types of deities, the roles played by religious leaders, and a
word or two about eschatology 9myths about the end of the world or return of god(s). What impact did the
the arrival of Islam have upon the people and culture of sub-Saharan Africa?
4. Provide a general discussion of African society (obviously, this will vary from
group to group but there are a few comparisons). Your discussion should include the
following: social hierarchy, gender roles, and education. What was the African view
of property and land ownership?
5. What factors combined to make West Africa the primary source of slaves that came to
Western Hemisphere? You must include no less than THREE factors here.
Europe in the late 15th -17th centuries (This will generally be confined to Western Europe)
The following website will help you with some (but not all) of these questions
1. What impact did the Scientific Revolution have upon sailing and Maritime
Exploration? List some of the key innovations and inventions.
2. Why did the rise of nation-states have an impact upon exploration beyond
Western Europe? Choose at least TWO powerful nation-states and explain how/why they began to explore the
Western Hemisphere?
3. What was the enclosure movement in England and why will this have an impact later colonization in the New
World? What was the idea of primogeniture and why will this also impact New World colonization?
4. What religious upheavals occurred in the 16th century and would having a lasting
impact upon migration patterns? What was primogeniture and why will this have an impact upon later
migration?
5. Examine the rise of Puritanism in England. What were some of the key tenets of this movement and why did it
run counter to the existing Anglican Church? Finally, why this will have an impact on later
migration to the New World.
6. What motives did the following powers have in exploring and colonizing in the
New World: Portugal, Spain, France, and the Netherlands?
7. Racism and slavery are as old as the human race. But, what was different about the
Transatlantic slave system that developed in the 16th century? What European
Powers developed the slave trade? What factors combined to make West Africa the primary source of
slaves in the Western Hemisphere?
Use the SOAPS method to analyze the Primary Sources Below
Document 1
"There was one palace somewhat inferior to the rest, attached to which was a beautiful garden with
balconies extending over it, supported by marble columns, and having a floor formed of jasper elegantly
inlaid. There were apartments in this palace sufficient to lodge two princes of the highest rank with their
retinues. There were likewise belonging to it ten pools of water, in which were kept the different species
of water birds found in this country, of which there is a great variety, all of which are domesticated; for
the sea birds there were pools of salt water, and for the river birds, of fresh water. The water is let off at
certain times to keep it pure, and is replenished by means of pipes. Each specie of bird is supplied with
the food natural to it, which it feeds upon when wild. Thus fish is given to the birds that usually eat it;
worms, maize, and the finer seeds, to such as prefer them. And I assure your Highness, that to the birds
accustomed to eat fish there is given the enormous quantity of ten arrobas every day, taken in the salt
lake. The emperor has three hundred men whose sole employment is to take care of these birds; and there
are others whose only business is to attend to the birds that are in bad health.
Over the polls for the birds there are corridors and galleries, to which Moctezuma resorts, and from
which he can look out and amuse himself with the sight of them. There is an apartment in the same palace
in which are men, women and children, whose faces, bodies, hair, eyebrows, and eyelashes are white
from their birth. The emperor has another very beautiful palace, with a large court-yard, paved with
handsome flags, in the style of a chess-board. There are also cages, about nine feet in height and six
paces square, each of which was half covered with a roof of tiles, and the other half had over it a wooden
grate, skillfully made. Every cage contained a bird of prey, of all the species found in Spain, from the
kestrel to the eagle, and many unknown there. There was a great number of each kind; and in the covered
part of the cages there was a perch, and another on the outside of the grating, the former of which the
birds used in the night time, and when it rained; and the other enabled them to enjoy the sun and air. To
all these birds fowls were daily given for food, and nothing else. There were in the same palace several
large halls on the ground floor, filled with immense cages built of heavy pieces of timber, well put
together, in all or most of which were kept lions, tigers, wolves, foxes, and a variety of animals of the cat
kind, in great numbers, which were fed also on fowls. The care of these animals and birds was assigned
to three hundred men. There was another palace that contained a number of men and women of
monstrous size, and also dwarfs, and crooked and ill-formed persons, each of which had their separate
apartments. These also had their respective keepers. As to the other remarkable things that the emperor
had in his city for his amusement, I can only say that they were numerous and of various kinds.
He was served in the following manner: Every day as soon as it was light, six hundred nobles and men of
rank were in attendance at the palace, who either sat, or walked about the halls and galleries, and passed
their time in conversation, but without entering the apartment where his person was. The servants and
attendants of these nobles remained in the court-yards, of which there were two or three of great extent,
and in the adjoining street, which was also very spacious. They all remained in attendance from morning
until night; and when his meals were served, the nobles were likewise served with equal profusion, and
their servants and secretaries also had their allowance. Daily his larder and wine-cellar were open to all
who wished to eat or drink. The meals were served by three or four hundred youths, who brought on an
infinite variety of dishes; indeed, whenever he dined or supped, the table was loaded with every kind of
flesh, fish, fruits, and vegetables that the country produced. As the climate is cold, they put a chafing-dish
with live coals under every plate and dish, to keep them warm. The meals were served in a large hall, in
which Moctezuma was accustomed to eat, and the dishes quite filled the room, which was covered with
mats and kept very clean. He sat on a small cushion curiously wrought of leather. During the meals there
were present, at a little distance from him, five or six elderly caciques, to whom he presented some of the
food. And there was constantly in attendance one of the servants, who arranged and handed the dishes,
and who received from others whatever was wanted for the supply of the table."
Source: Letter of Hernan Cortes to Charles V 1520 Second Letter
Document 2.
"The first object that saluted my eyes when I arrived on the coast was the sea, and
a slave ship...waiting for its cargo. These filled me with astonishment, that was soon
converted into terror...I was immediately handled and tossed up to see if I was sound, by
some of the crew; and I was now persuaded that I had got into a world of bad spirits, and
that they were going to kill me...
I was soon put down under the decks, and there I received such a salutation in my
nostrils as I had never experienced in my life: so that, with the loathsomeness of the
stench, and with my crying together, I became so sick and low that I was not able to
eat...I now wished for the last friend, death, to relieve me; but soon, to my grief, two of
the white men offered me eatables; and on my refusing to eat, one of them held me...and
laid me across, I think, the windlass, and tied my feet, while the other
flogged me severely...In a little time after, amongst the poor chained men, I found some of my own
nation...I inquired of these what was to be done with us. They gave me to understand we
were to be carried to these white people’s country to work for them. I was then a little
revived...But still I feared that I should be put to death, the white people looked and
acted, as I thought, in so savage a manner: for I had never seen such instances of brutal
cruelty: and this is not only shown towards us blacks, but also to some of the whites
themselves...I could not help expressing my fearful apprehensions to some of my
countrymen...I asked them how the vessel could go. They told me they could not tell; but
that there was cloth put upon the masts by the help of the ropes I saw, and then the vessel
went on; and the white men had some spell or magic they put in the water, when they
liked, in order to stop the vessel...
While we stayed on the coast I was mostly on deck; and one day...I saw one of
these vessels coming in with the sails up...when the anchor was let go, I and my
countrymen who saw it, were lost in astonishment to observe the vessel stop, and were
now convinced it was done by magic...At last, when the ship...had got in all her
cargo,... we were all put under deck..."
Source: “The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African,” in
Henry Louis Gates, ed., The Classic Slave Narratives (New York: Mentor, 1987), pp. 32-37
Document 3
“Now I must mention a thing which should not be forgotten. A chief, who was Lord of Caxamalca,
appeared before the Governor and said to him through the interpreters: "I would have you to know that,
after Atahualpa was taken prisoner, he sent to Quito, his native land, and to all the other provinces, with
orders to collect troops to march against you and your followers, and to kill you all; and all these troops
are coming under the command of a great captain called Lluminabi. This army is now very near to this
place. It will come at night and attack the camp . . ."
The Governor then spoke to Atahualpa, saying: "What treason is this that you have prepared for me? For
me who have treated you with honor, like a brother, and have trusted in your words!" Then he told him
all the information he had received. Atahualpa answered, saying: "Are you laughing at me? You are
always making jokes when you speak to me. What am I and all my people that we should trouble such
valiant men as you are? Do not talk such nonsense to me." He said all this without betraying a sign of
anxiety; but he laughed the better to conceal his evil design, and practiced many other arts such as would
suggest themselves to a quick-witted man. After he was a prisoner, the Spaniards who heard him were
astounded to find so much wisdom in a barbarian....
Then the Governor, with the concurrence of the officers of his Majesty, and of the captains and persons of
experience, sentenced Atahualpa to death. His sentence was that, for the treason he had committed, he
should die by burning, unless he became a Christian . . .
They brought out Atahualpa to execution; and, when he came into the square, he said he would become a
Christian. The Governor was informed, and ordered him to be baptized. The ceremony was performed by
the very reverend Father Friar Vicente de Valverde. The Governor then ordered that he should not be
burned, but that he should be fastened to a pole in the open space and strangled. This was done, and the
body was left until the morning of the next day, when the monks, and the Governor with the other
Spaniards, conveyed it into the church, where it was interred with much solemnity, and with all the
honors that could be shown it. Such was the end of this man, who had been so cruel. He died with great
fortitude, and without showing any feeling.”
Source: Capture of an Inca King: Francisco Pizarro From Narrative of the Conquest of Peru, by his
secretary, Francisco de Xeres, 1530-34 [Pizarro sends for Atahualpa.]
Scoring the DBQ
DBQ rubric
Maximum Possible Points: 7
A. Thesis: 0-1 point
Skills assessed: Argumentation + targeted skill
States a thesis statement that directly addresses all parts of the question. The thesis
must do more than restate the question.
1 point
B. Analysis of historical evidence and support of argument: 0-4 points
Skills assessed: Use of evidence, argumentation, + targeted skill (i.e., comparison)
Analysis of documents (0-3 points)
Offers plausible analysis
Offers plausible
Offers plausible analysis
of BOTH the content of
analysis of the
of BOTH the content of a
all or all but one of the
content of a
majority of the
documents, explicitly
majority of the
documents, explicitly
using this analysis to
documents,
using this analysis to
support the stated thesis
explicitly using
support the stated thesis
or a relevant argument;
this analysis to
or a relevant argument;
support the stated
AND
thesis or a relevant
AND
argument
At least one of the
At least one of the
OR following for the majority OR following for all or all
but one of the
of the documents:
documents:
 Intended audience
 Intended
 Purpose
audience
 Historical context
 Purpose
and/or
 Historical context
 The author’s point
and/or
of view
 The author’s point
of view
2 points
1 point
3 points
AND/OR
Analysis of outside examples to support thesis/argument (0-1 point)
Offers plausible analysis of historical examples beyond/outside of the documents to
support the stated thesis or a relevant argument.
1 point
C. Contextualization: 0-1 point
Skills assessed: Contextualization (outlining historical period)
Accurately and explicitly connects historical phenomena relevant to the argument to
broader historical events and/or processes.
1 point
D. Synthesis: 0-1 point
Skills assessed: Synthesis
Response synthesizes (brings together) the argument, evidence, analysis of
documents, and context into a coherent and persuasive essay by accomplishing one
or more of the following as relevant to the question:
*Relating this subject to similar events in other historical periods
*Extending or modifying the thesis
*Accounts for sometimes contradictory information
1 Point
Columbian Exchange DBQ
Directions: The following question is based on the accompanying Documents 1-11. (Some of the documents
have been edited for the purpose of this exercise.) For this exercise choose 7 documents below to write your
essay.
This question is designed to test your ability to work with historical documents. As you analyze the
documents, take into account both the sources of the documents and the authors' points of view. Write an
essay on the following topic that integrates your analysis of the documents; in no case should documents
simply be only cited and explained in a "laundry list" fashion. You may refer to historical facts and
developments not mentioned in the documents.
Question: Evaluate the positive and negative effects of the exchange between Europe and the New
World.
Document 1
As We have ordered provision to be made that from henceforward the Indians in no
way be made slaves, including those who until now have been enslaved against all reason
and right and contrary to the provisions and instructions thereupon, We ordain and
command that the Audiencias having first summoned the parties to their presence, without
any further judicial form, but in a summary way, so that the truth may be ascertained,
speedily set the said Indians at liberty unless the persons who hold them for slaves show
title why they should hold and possess them legitimately. And in order that in default of
persons to solicit the aforesaid, the Indians may not remain in slavery unjustly, We
command that the Audiencias appoint persons who may pursue this cause for the Indians
and be paid out of the Exchequer fines, provided they be men of trust and diligence.
New Spanish laws of the Indies, 1542
Document 2
The university and Royal schools are so distinguished that they need envy no other in the world…
The Professors are in major part natives of the Indies and especially of this city, where it would
appear that the skies, as usually in the Indies, train outstanding and unusual intellects…
The lecture halls in the schools are excellent, and the chapel very fine, but the most remarkable
feature is the amphitheater…
Source:“Description of the West Indies” by Antoniio Vasquez de Espinoza, a Spanish priest
describing the University in Lima, Peru in the early 17th century
Document 3
The inhabitants of Lima are composed of whites, or Spaniards, Negroes, Indians, Mestizos, and other
casts, proceeding from the mixture of all three.
The Spanish families are very numerous; Lima according to the lowest computation, containing
sixteen or eighteen thousand whites, Among these are reckoned a third or fourth part of the most
distinguished nobility of Peru; and many of these dignified with the stile of ancient or modern
Castilians, among which are no less than 45 counts and marquises. The number of knights belonging to
the several military orders is also very considerable. Besides these are many families no less
respectable and living in equal splendor; particularly 24 gentlemen of large estates, but without titles,
tho' most of them have ancient seats, a proof of the antiquity of their families. One of these traces, with
undeniable certainty, his descent from the Incas. The name of this family is Ampuero, so called from
one of the Spanish commanders at the conquest of this country, who married a Coya, or daughter of the
Inca. To this family the kings of Spain have been pleased to grant several distinguishing honours and
privileges, as marks of its great quality: and many of the most eminent families in the city have desired
intermarriages with it.
Source: From Jorge Juan and Antonio de Ulloa, A Voyage to South America (1748)
Document 4
Above all, it leaves out the fact that this encounter was inevitable. This is not simply to state the
obvious: that if Columbus hadn't set sail in 1492, some other European voyager would have made the
trip soon afterward. The key point is that whoever made the first crossing and whenever it occurred, the
consequences for the people of the Western Hemisphere would not have been much different. To expect
otherwise is to ask that history be rolled back long before 1492 and that its course be plotted along other
lines entirely.
In particular, European civilization would have to be recast. What drove Columbus westward was not
just a search for a lucrative new trade route to Asia. It is too simplistic to picture him and the other
European explorers as mere money- grubbers, early real-estate developers who lucked into an entire
continent to subdivide. Money was obviously important to them, but they were also animated by a
certain restlessness and curiosity. The voyage into the unknown, after all, had been part of European
culture since the days of Odysseus. To some degree this questing instinct was bound up with religious
zeal: look, for example, at the search for the Holy Grail and the history of the Crusades. On a more
mundane level, it was often a social necessity: families were large, houses were small, land was scarce,
and so young people were encouraged to leave home and seek their fortune. Missionaries set out to
preach the Gospel. Merchants set out to find new goods and new markets to sell them in. Armies
sometimes led this process, sometimes followed. The spread of Western civilization was built on
intrusion.
Source: Kenneth Auchincloss, When Worlds Collide Newsweek Fall/Winter 1991
Document 5
The charge of genocide is largely sustained by figures showing the precipitous decline of the Indian
population. Although scholars debate the exact numbers, in Alvin Josephy's estimate, the Indian
population fell from between fifteen and twenty million when the white man first arrived to a fraction of
that 150 years later. Undoubtedly the Indians perished in great numbers. Yet although European
enslavement of Indians and the Spanish forced labor system extracted a heavy toll in lives, the vast
majority of Indian casualties occurred not as a result of hard labor or deliberate destruction but because
of contagious diseases that the Europeans transmitted to the Indians.
The spread of infection and unhealthy patterns of behavior was also reciprocal. From the Indians the
Europeans contracted syphilis. The Indians also taught the white man about tobacco and cocaine, which
would extract an incalculable human toll over the next several centuries. The Europeans, for their part,
gave the Indians measles and smallpox. (Recent research has shown that tuberculosis predated the
European arrival in the new world.) Since the Indians had not developed any resistance or immunity to
these unfamiliar ailments, they perished in catastrophic numbers.
Source: “The Crimes of Christopher Columbus” Dinesh D'Souza
Document 6
One of the most significant and visible features of the contemporary United States is its multiethnic
and culturally pluralistic character. Scholars describe the United States as one
of history's first universal or world nations--its people are a microcosm of humanity with biological,
cultural, and social ties to all other parts of the earth. The origin of these critical
features of our demographic and our civic life lies in the initial encounters and migrations of peoples and
cultures of the Americas, Europe, and Africa.
Another significant feature of the United States is the fact that the nation and its citizens are an
integral part of a global society created by forces that began to unfold in 1492.
Geographically, the Eastern and Western Hemispheres were joined after millennia of virtual isolation
from one another. Economically, the growth of the modern global economy was substantially stimulated
by the bullion trade linking Latin America, Europe, and Asia; the slave trade connecting Africa, Europe,
and the Americas; and the fur trade joining North America, western Europe, and Russia. Politically, the
contemporary worldwide international system was born in the extension of intra- European conflict into
the Western Hemisphere, the establishment of European colonies in the Americas, and the
accompanying intrusion of Europeans into the political affairs of Native Americans, and the Native
Americans' influence on the political and military affairs of European states. Ecologically, the massive
transcontinental exchange of plants, animals, microorganisms, and natural resources initiated by the
Spanish and Portuguese voyages modified the global ecological system forever.
Source: "The Columbian Quincentenary: An Educational Opportunity" An official position
statement developed by National Council for the Social Studies, October 1991
Document 7
The disaster began almost as soon as Columbus arrived, fueled mainly by smallpox and measles.
Smallpox--the disease that so ravaged Tenochtitlan on the eve of Cortes's final siege-- was a particularly
efficient killer. Alfred Crosby, author of "The Columbian Exchange," likens its effect on American
history to "that of the Black Death on the history of the Old World." Smallpox made its American debut
in 1519, when it struck the Caribbean island of Santo Domingo, killing up to half of the indigenous
population. From there outbreaks spread across the Antilles islands, onto the Mexican mainland,
through the Isthmus of Panama and into South America. The Spaniards were moving in the same
direction, but their diseases often outpaced them. "Such is the communicability of smallpox and the
other eruptive fevers," Crosby notes, "that any Indian who received news of the
Spaniards could also have easily received the infection."
Source: “The Great Disease Migration” Geoffrey Cowley, in Newsweek Fall 1991
Document 8
APWH Teachers’ Conference 2001
Document 9
Exchanging crops proved to be a far more intricate, involved process than ever could have been
imagined at the time. Remarkably, the people of the Americas realized that crops with higher caloric
value could not only feed more people, but also allowed people to work harder because they were more
energized. This led to an adoption of American crops by European peasantries that changed entire
cuisines in various cultures and spread rapidly through the Americas, Europe and finally, Africa. An
important crop in Europe was potatoes, as they could be left in the ground until they were ready to be
eaten and allowed many Europeans to evade taxes, as tax collectors did not go so far as to dig up not yet
harvested crops. Similarly, potatoes were also a helpful crop and food source because when armies
invaded and rounded up food for themselves, they were similarly unable to steal the potatoes; thereby,
leaving food for the European people.
Animals were also a key part of the Columbian Exchange. Horses, pigs, sheep, and cattle were all
European animals that flourished rapidly in the Americas because they were able to reproduce without
being hindered by predators. Pigs were also a key animal used during ocean travels because they could
be dumped on the way to a country or place and then picked up and eaten on the way back. The horse,
too, was also a very useful animal as it helped with battle; it allowed for faster travel, it allowed for the
surprising of opponents, and allowed people to fight from a higher level.
Source: “Columbian Exchange” March 31, 2006 Lauren Rees
Document 10
More astonishing than the difference between the length of the lists of Old World's and New World's
domesticated animals is the difference between the lengths of the lists of infectious diseases native to the
two. The New World had only a few, possibly because humans had been present there and had lived in
dense populations, cities, for a short time compared to the Old. Possibly of greater importance is the
relative lack of domesticated herd animals in America, one of our richest sources of disease microorganisms. (For instance, we share influenza with pigs and other barnyard animals).
Source:“The Columbian Exchange, Plants, Animals and Disease between Old World and New”
Alfred Wray
Document 11