The Columbian Exchange • Exchange of animals, plants, human populations

(including slaves), communicable disease, culture, & ideas between the American and Afro-Eurasian Hemispheres following the voyage to the Americas by Christopher Columbus in 1492.

• Term was coined in 1972 by Alfred W. Crosby, a historian at the University of Texas at Austin, in his work of environmental history.

Plants & Animals of the Exchange

• Cattle from Europe flourished in the Americas

• Cassava (also known as manioc), was native to South America but spread widely in Asia, and was especially impactful Africa, where its edible root provided a major source of carbohydrates

Impact on the Old World

1. Wealth of the colonies:• precious metals, natural resources, new food

crops, slave labor, financial profits, colonial markets—provided one of the foundations on which Europe’s Industrial Revolution was built.

2. Growth• Colonies also provided an outlet for the rapidly

growing population of European societies & represented an enormous extension of European civilization.

Impact on the Old World

3. Power• The colonial empires of the Americas changed the

global balance of power– Brought Western European countries to the

forefront• “Without a New World to deliver economic balance

in the Old,” concluded a prominent world historian, “Europe would have remained inferior, as ever, in wealth and power, to the great civilizations of Asia.”

European Colonies in

the Americas

Spanish Colonies: economies of exploitation• Mercantilism: strict regulation of trade –

exclusively between colonies & home• Conquistadors – “conquerers”

– Hernán Cortés - Aztecs of Mexico in 1521– Francisco Pizarro - Incas 1530s

• Largest indigenous empire• West coast of South America (Peru+)

• Colonial rule in South America– Commercial agriculture & mining economies– Version of Spanish class hierarchy

Spanish Colonies

Define the following terms. Then, use them to create a graphic organizer that describes the Spanish Colonial economy.

• Debt Peonage• Conquistadors• Peninsulares• Hacienda• Repartimiento• encomienda

What do you know about Africa?

What is the climate?

What are the people like?

What is Africa’s history?

Africa is a _____________!CONTINENT

Africa11 million sq. miles

=11 billion fball fields!

AFRICA- So what?

AFRICA IS DIVERSE

- 800+ ethnic groups

- 1000 languages

• Henry Stanley, late 1800s• "May I be selected to succeed

him [Livingstone] in opening up Africa to the shining light of Christianity ?" 

The Dark Continent?

African KingdomsFrom 4000 BC on…• Classical Egypt• Kingdom of Kush • Axum (Aksum)• Ghana• Mali• Benin• Songhay (Songhai)

• 1441 - Arrival of first Europeans (Portugal) – GOLD (in Ghana)–1442 - enslaved Africans to Europe

• Slavery in Africa already existed–VERY different: servitude ended after a

period of time, could own property & marry…

–NOT passed down to children from parents

• Mid 1500s: Caribbean sugar plantations

Plantation Economies• Sugarcane plantations required expensive

land, equipment, & labor• Very costly! Esp labor… slave labor

provided low-cost workers

• West Indies• (France, GB)• Brazil• Southern US

(Jamestown)

“Triangle Trade” The Atlantic Slave Trade

“New World”

Africa

Europe Sugar

Tobacco

Enslaved humans

Liquor Guns Mfg GoodsTHE MIDDLE PASSAGE

…and so on …for 300+ years…

ABOLITION: 1772-Britain … 1865-US

Effects of slave trade on Africa

A. Populations severely depleted

- esp. youth, strongest & most intelligent

B. Breakdown of communities

- slavers encouraged wars

C. Trade stopped

- no crops or goods to trade

D. Inventions, innovations & advancements were not made

E. Paved the way for Imperialism

Imperialism =a strong country takes over a weaker one for its own benefit

*Overall impact: Arrested development of

Africa for centuries