Heimler's History: The Columbian Exchange

Overview

• Focus on Unit 1, AP US History Curriculum
• Previous video: Spanish colonialism in the Americas
• Current focus: The Columbian Exchange

What is the Columbian Exchange?

• Transfer of food, animals, minerals, people, and diseases
• Involves Africa, Europe, and the Americas
• Major transformative impact on societies, economies, and environments

Impact of Disease

• Spanish conquest aided by diseases like smallpox
  • Example: Hernán Cortés and Tenochtitlán
  • Indigenous populations had no immunity
• Devastation of native populations:
  • Hispaniola: 300,000 Arawak and Taino dead
  • Incas: population reduced from 9 million to 500,000
  • Aztecs, Mayans, and surrounding regions: from 40 million to 3 million in 150 years

Exchange of Food

• From Americas to Europe: maize, tomatoes, potatoes, cacao, tobacco
• From Europe/Africa to Americas: rice, wheat, soybeans, rye, oats, lemons, oranges
• Grain crops became staple foods in the Americas

Exchange of Animals

• Europeans introduced horses, pigs, cattle, and chickens
• Impact:
  • Pigs and cattle: dietary changes
  • Horses: revolutionized farming and warfare

Exchange of Minerals

• Gold and silver plundered from Incan and Aztec empires
• Wealth made Spain extremely wealthy
• Attracted more European colonizers
• Impact on Europe:
  • Economic growth starting after 1500
  • Shift from feudalism to capitalism

Transfer of People

• Native Americans enslaved and taken to Spain
• Enslaved Africans transported to the Americas
  • Endured the brutal Middle Passage
  • Sold into slavery upon arrival

Spanish Colonization and Economic Policies

• Driven by state and mercantilist policies
  • Mercantilism: government-directed economy
• Other nations later used joint-stock companies for exploration

Conclusion

• Future focus: Other Western European nations' involvement
• Preview for Unit 2: More on joint-stock companies

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