Columbian Exchange

The Columbian Exchange refers to the flow of goods between the Americas, Europe, and Africa that followed Columbus’s widely advertised “discovery” of the New World. People, animals, plants, and microorganisms passed from continent to continent affecting virtually all aspects of the environment in all three. For American Indians, disease was the most significant aspect of the exchange with as many as 90 percent of the Native population dying out during the first century of colonization. For Africans and Europeans the most important items were new American crops that increased food supplies significantly. This led to population explosions in Africa and parts of Europe, which fed migration from those continents to the New World; voluntarily on the part of most Europeans, and involuntarily—as slaves—on the part of most Africans.

Metadata

Keywords: agriculture, disease, Trade
Coverage People: Christopher Columbus
Coverage Events: Columbian Exchange
Coverage Organizations: American Indians, Europeans
Coverage Geographical: Africa, Americas, Europe

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