History 2158A/B Chapter Notes - Chapter 05-15: The Columbian Exchange, Columbia Plateau, Columbian Exchange
15 May 2018
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Aboriginal Canada in the Era of Contact: The Columbian Exchange
●Language diversity along the Pacific Northwest coast made trade and diplomacy difficult
○A trade jargon called Chinook or Chinuk Wawa was used before the Europeans (?)
○In now central and northern Ontario, the language Wendat was adopted by traders
●In the 1400s, Indigenous peoples saw Europeans as sources of goods
○The resulting flow and counterflow of goods and ideas is known as the Columbian Exchange
Crops and Animals
●Agricultural societies in the Americas built up surpluses for local trade
●The Caribbean offered Europeans squash, beans, maize, tobacco, potatoes, chocolate, corn, pepper, vanilla, tomatoes
○They were often interested in as much food as they were because they had eaten their own stocks of food
●Exploration into the west Atlantic was in order to find a passage to Asia for spices, but instead Europeans found new
exotic foods that would become staples of daily nutrition
○Potatoes replaced grains in parts of Europe
○Manioc (or cassava) caused a large population growth in Africa and contributed to the slave trade
○Maize and sweet potatoes spread to China
○Starchy plants especially caused population growth as the diets of the poor improved alongside birth rates
●Agricultural practices and land ownership patterns changed with the new crops
○Larger cities were built in the agricultural surpluses and famines were rarer
●Animals were exported to Europe
○Main export was turkey by 1524, which was interbred with wild american turkeys in the 1600s
○Animal with biggest impact was the cochineal, a small insect that lived on cacti in the americas
○Harvested in the thousands to make red dyes, used to dye the clothes of the British troops
●Indigenous peoples weren’t super interested in European crops because they didn’t need any more food
○Food flowing from Europe was mostly for settler communities
○Grains (oats, wheat, barley), soft and hard tree fruits (peaches, plums, pears), wine grapes, and onions
○Plantation crops had a significant impact on them because they forced a change in diet by competing with
other food crops
○“The cultivation of new crops also contributed to the enslavement of native people and the trade in Africans”
○Coffee, sugar, bananas, rice, and indigo
●Livestock exported to the Americas had significant impacts on the Indigenous peoples
○The Spanish brought horses and the Indigenous peoples REALLY wanted to ride them
○By 1606 the Navajo stole a bunch and escaped horses went feral and bred in the wild
○“For southwestern peoples, the horse became a commodity in their existing trade network. Horses
were passed along in conservative numbers for generations until they reached the northern Plains in
the 1730s. Around 1750, HBC traders observed Cree-Assiniboine riders with horses sporting
Spanish brands.[3] By that time the Andalusian Mustang breed imported by the Spanish —
noteworthy for its short legs and barrel chest — was being bred into something more hardy by the
Liksiyu of the Columbia Plateau in what is now northern Oregon. Despite having no experience
with domestic animals, the Liksiyu were able to geld their animals and selectively breed them. The
animals they produced were known by the name given the Liksiyu by the French: cayuse. By the
early 19th century, horses had reached the British Columbian plateau; the local variant name for
these horses, cayoosh, refers to a pony similar to the cayuse but bred by Aboriginal people to have
stronger hindquarters suitable for the mountains.”
○Plains, Cree, and Assiniboine peoples used horses instead of dogs to move goods and people and
hunt bison, allowing their populations to grow
○Plains culture changed significantly, using horses to abandon their agricultural ways and instead
hunt bison, enabling them to trade more, and engage in warfare differently
○Cattle were introduced to the Americas (they had been several times before but they were all eaten)
Document Summary
Aboriginal canada in the era of contact: the columbian exchange. A trade jargon called chinook or chinuk wawa was used before the europeans (?) In now central and northern ontario, the language wendat was adopted by traders. In the 1400s, indigenous peoples saw europeans as sources of goods. The resulting flow and counterflow of goods and ideas is known as the columbian exchange. Agricultural societies in the americas built up surpluses for local trade. The caribbean offered europeans squash, beans, maize, tobacco, potatoes, chocolate, corn, pepper, vanilla, tomatoes. They were often interested in as much food as they were because they had eaten their own stocks of food. Exploration into the west atlantic was in order to find a passage to asia for spices, but instead europeans found new exotic foods that would become staples of daily nutrition. Manioc (or cassava) caused a large population growth in africa and contributed to the slave trade.
