The Columbian Exchange

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The Columbian Exchange

• Beginning of the World Economy

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Themes in the Video

• What are the major themes of the video The
  Columbian Exchange?
• the significance of the seemingly insignificant
  things exchanged
• the significance of the movements of people (not
  as conquistadores) occasioned by the discovery
  and colonization of the New World
• the development of whole cultures as the outcome
  of the exchange of flora and fauna from one
  hemisphere to another

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(No Transcript)
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What Was Exchanged?
Old World to America America to Old World
Diseases smallpox, measles, influenza, diphtheria, whooping cough syphilis (a.k.a. "the pox")
Animals horses, cattle, pigs, sheep, goats, chickens  
Crops wheat, vines, citrus, other fruits maize, potatoes (white and sweet), beans, tomatoes, peppers, peanuts, manioc, papayas, guavas, avocados, pineapples, cacao, tobacco
People military, businessmen, poor immigrants, slaves  
Other religion silver and gold
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The Exchange of Diseases

• the character of epidemics
• the need for concentrations of people
• how gene pools develop with resistence to strains
  of diseases
• the apparent absence of epidemic diseases in the
  New World prior to 1492
• dense populations in valley of Mexico and in
  Peruvian highlands
• close to the margin, but not yet at it?
• the emergence of several "childhood" diseases in
  the New World shortly after the arrival of the
  Spanish

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The Demographic Collapse

• Some contending estimates
• http//www.hist.umn.edu/rmccaa/vircatas/virtab3.h
  tm

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Contending Views of Demographic Collapse
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The Demographic Collapse

• http//www.hist.umn.edu/rmccaa/vircatas/virtab3.h
  tm
• http//www2.kenyon.edu/Depts/PSci/Inst21/mexico_po
  pulation.htm
• Consequences
• Loss of cultural confidence
• http//www2.kenyon.edu/Depts/PSci/Inst21/aztec_old
  _men.htm

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Varieties of Old and New World Staples(millions
of calories per hectare)
Chief American Crops Chief American Crops Chief Old World Crops Chief Old World Crops
Maize 7.3 Rice 7.3
Potatoes 7.5 Wheat 4.2
Sweet Potatoes/ Yams 7.1 Barley 5.1
Manioc/Cassava 9.9 Oats 5.5
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Growth of World Population
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(No Transcript)
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Example Cattle Ranching
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The Potato and Population Growth in Ireland
Year Millions Year Millions
1712 2.8 1781 4.0
1718 2.9 1785 4.0
1725 3.0 1788 4.4
1732 3.0 1791 4.8
1754 3.2 1821 6.8
1772 3.6 1831 7.8
1777 3.7 1841 8.2