Page 4 - SSW 19: The Columbian Exchange

Week 19 of 32 • Page 4 UNIT: EUROPEAN EXPLORATION AND COLONIZATION

The Co lumbian Exchang e WEEK 19
The Columbian Exchange
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Diseases

The most deadly exchange that happened as a
result of the Columbian Exchange was unintentional.
The Europeans brought diseases with them. They
had developed immunity to many bacteria and
viruses over the centuries. Some of these diseases REGIONS AND PEOPLE OF THE
were related to being exposed to the domesticated
animals that Europeans worked with and ate. For WESTERN HEMISPHERE
example, chickenpox is a disease that is thought to
have originated in chickens, but because Europeans
lived in such close proximity to their animals and The Columbian
because they ate chicken, this disease transferred to
humans. After long and repeated exposure to these
diseases, Europeans and their ancestors had developed Exchange
immunities to them.
The people of the Americas, on the other hand, had In 1494, one man who had sailed across
never been exposed to such deadly germs. Smallpox, the Atlantic Ocean returned home with all

tuberculosis, influenza, and other strains of disease “A 16th-century illustration showing the sorts of wild stories. He described the new
were easily transported by unsuspecting Europeans. Nahuas people with smallpox”
This all happened at a time before people understood world he had seen, full of strange plants,
how diseases spread. It was also long before antibiotics animals, and foods. He talked about the
and other life-saving medicines had been discovered. people he had met there. This man was
Nowadays, there are vaccines that prevent diseases not Christopher Columbus or a member
such as chickenpox and measles. Native Peoples of the of his crew. He was a Taíno man from the
Americas had neither vaccines nor previous exposure. Bahamas whom Columbus had captured
The results were deadly.
Native Peoples’ immune systems were completely Sixteenth- and taken

unable to fight off the new European diseases. century Aztec back to Spain. We don’t know his real
Historians estimate that disease killed between 80 and drawing of name, but Columbus gave him the name
90 percent of the native population of the Americas a measles Diego Colón.
within 150 years. In some cases, entire populations of victim After returning home, Colón told
Indigenous people died. his friends and family about Spain. He

described “the great cities and fortresses
and churches” and “the people and horses
Lasting Effects and animals.” He saw strange “lands and

food ... and bullfighting.” All were new to
Some of the lasting effects of the Columbian Exchange can still Exchange was not goods, animals, plants, or diseases, but the him, just like Indigenous peoples and their
be seen in the world today. Animals and foods from both sides transfer of people. Columbus brought sugarcane to Hispaniola homelands were new to Europeans. As
of the Exchange spread all over the world. New crops allowed in 1493. Sugarcane grew well in the Americas and sold well in people traveled between the continents,
farmers on both sides of the Atlantic to plant and harvest more Europe. As sugar plantations sprang up and grew, the demand they were exchanging

food than ever before. All over the world, people’s diets became for labor increased. At first, Europeans paid or enslaved native ideas about technology,
more varied. peoples to work on the plantations. As the demand for labor religion, and
There were many lasting effects of the Columbian increased, however, Europeans turned to the African slave trade.
Exchange. Some were positive, but many were negative. One People seeking new opportunities began crossing the Atlantic ways of life.
of the most enduring changes brought by the Columbian Ocean with the hope of making their fortune by farming land As European
in the Americas. More and more people began immigrating to explorers reached
the Americas. Colonies began to develop. Some colonies failed different parts of North
after a few years, but many others were successful. Towns America, people from
like Jamestown, Virginia; St. Augustine, Florida; and Plymouth, different groups, like the
Massachusetts, that are still around today started out as Iroquois and Patuxet,
European colonies.
Although there were many positive and negative consequences were brought across the
of the Columbian Exchange, it was undoubtedly one of the biggest ocean and saw Europe.
events in history that forever changed the world. People in the Americas
and in Europe were not
just curious about each
other. As soon as they Diego Colón
Diego C
olón
met, many saw new opportunities
to meet their economic wants and needs.
to meet their economic wants and needs.
The people on the two sides of the Atlantic
The people on the two sides of the Atlantic
quickly exchanged goods, people, plants,
quickly exchanged goods, people, plants,
A group of
immigrant children animals, and diseases.
This exchange between the Americas,
at Ellis Island This exchange between the Americas,
Europe, Africa, and Asia is called the
Europe, Africa, and Asia is called the
. A historian named
Columbian Exchange. A historian named
Alfred Crosby named the exchange after
Alfred Crosby named the exchange after
Christopher Columbus. The Columbian
Christopher Columbus. The Columbian
Exchange had a huge impact on life for
Exchange had a huge impact on life for
people all around the world.
ESSENTIAL QUESTION

Painting of enslaved people Map showing the movement What was the Columbian Exchange? What items were
working to make sugar Family of German inmigrants of enslaved people from Africa exchanged in the Columbian Exchange?
in Costa Rica to the Americas
Photo courtesy of Eugenio Mora Ballhary