History 2158A/B Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: The Columbian Exchange, Columbian Exchange, Gluten
16 May 2018
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The Columbian Exchange
●Before Columbus’ voyage, there was no wheat or cattle or countless other livestock and food items in the Americas
●The Americas had been separated from Europe, Africa, and Asia for millions of years and had biologically developed
very differently before the Columbian Exchange
Columbus’s Voyage
●It begins with Columbus searching for an alternate route to India and China, convinced that the world was smaller
around and that Asia was bigger than most people thought
○He eventually convinced the Spanish crown to fund their expedition
○Three weeks came and went and there was no land
○They eventually found the Bahamas and for his whole life he thought he had succeeded because he’s an idiot
Disease
●Europeans brought diseases like smallpox, which they had a sort of natural resistance to
●The Indigenous peoples of the Americas had no immunity at all to the European and African and Asian diseases
●The indigenous populations dropped by enormous percentages in the coming decades
New Food
●For the most part, food from the Americas was better and easier to grow than the European foods
●The peoples of the Old World were able to turn areas of the New World into places where they could turn crops
Maize
●October 16th 1492 is when Europeans were introduced to it
●Growing in the Americas for about 10,000 years
●By 1400s it was growing all the way from Canada to Chile
●Brought back to Spain in 1493
●Within 20 years of his last voyage it had spread to South Africa and was popular in Egypt → Turkey → Ottoman
Empire → back to Europe
●1540s maize arrives in China
Document Summary
Before columbus" voyage, there was no wheat or cattle or countless other livestock and food items in the americas. The americas had been separated from europe, africa, and asia for millions of years and had biologically developed very differently before the columbian exchange. It begins with columbus searching for an alternate route to india and china, convinced that the world was smaller around and that asia was bigger than most people thought. He eventually convinced the spanish crown to fund their expedition. Three weeks came and went and there was no land. They eventually found the bahamas and for his whole life he thought he had succeeded because he"s an idiot. Europeans brought diseases like smallpox, which they had a sort of natural resistance to. The indigenous peoples of the americas had no immunity at all to the european and african and asian diseases. The indigenous populations dropped by enormous percentages in the coming decades.
