Heimler's History: The Columbian Exchange

Overview

• The Columbian Exchange: transfer of food, animals, minerals, people, and diseases between Africa, Europe, and the Americas.
• Significant because it transformed societies, economies, and environments of the continents involved.

Transfer of Disease

• Impact on Indigenous Populations:
  • Hernan Cortez conquered Tenochtitlan with only about a thousand men due to the impact of disease, notably smallpox.
  • Indigenous Americans had no immunity to European diseases, leading to massive population declines.
  • Examples:
    • Hispaniola: Smallpox devastated native Arawak and Taino peoples (~300,000 dead).
    • Incas: Population dropped from ~9 million to 500,000 within a century.
    • Aztecs and Maya: Combined population reduced from 40 million to 3 million over 150 years.

Transfer of Food

• From Americas to Europe:
  • High-yield, nutritious foods: maize, tomatoes, potatoes, cacao, tobacco.
• From Europe/Africa to Americas:
  • Rice, wheat, soybeans, rye, oats, lemons, and oranges.
  • Especially grain crops transformed American diets.

Transfer of Animals

• European Introduction to Americas:
  • Horses, pigs, cattle, chickens.
  • Impact:
    • Pigs and cattle altered Native American diets.
    • Horses revolutionized farming and warfare.

Transfer of Minerals

• Spanish plundered the Incan and Aztec empires for gold and silver.
• This wealth was sent back to Spain, enriching it and encouraging further colonization.

Economic Impact in Europe

• Influx of wealth transformed Europe, especially Western Europe, leading to:
  • Economic growth.
  • Transition from feudalism to capitalism (private ownership and free trade).

Transfer of People

• Native Americans Enslaved:
  • Initially enslaved and taken to Spain by European colonizers.
• African Enslavement:
  • Large numbers of Africans captured, transported across the Middle Passage.
  • Many died of disease and starvation during transit.

Spanish Colonization

• Driven by state and mercantilism (governmental direction/intervention).
• Mercantilism:
  • Dominant European economic system at the time.

Future Developments

• Other European nations to join colonization and participate in the Columbian Exchange.
• Shift to privatized exploration using joint stock companies (to be covered in future units).