The Colombian Exchange & Colombian Expansion

• Colombian Exchange


  The global transfer of goods, flora, fauna, cultural practices, and disease between the Old World and the New World as a result of European imperialism
• The Colombian Exchange transformed the lives and societies of everyone involved
• Things exchanged in the Colombian Exchange

  • Diseases
  • Food
  • Minerals (gold, silver)
  • People
• Diseases exchanged


  Smallpox and other diseases from Europe devastated indigenous populations in the Americas, leading to the "Great Dying" where populations plummeted by up to 90%
• Food exchanged


  High-yielding and nutrient-packed foods like maize, tomatoes, potatoes, and cacao from the Americas went to Europe, while foods like rice and wheat from Europe went to the Americas, changing their diets and improving health
• Minerals exchanged


  Gold and silver plundered from the Inca and Aztec empires made Spain incredibly wealthy, hastening the end of feudalism and the rise of capitalism in Europe
• The transfer of minerals from the Americas to Europe fundamentally transformed both the Old World and the New World
• The wealth flowing into Europe from the Americas

  Hastened the end of the feudal system and the rise of an early form of capitalism
• People exchanged


  The African slave trade, which will be discussed in the next video
• The globalization of the economy and exploration

  Shifted economic power in Europe from Mediterranean states to Atlantic states with growing empires
• Encomienda system


  An economic and social system imposed by the Spanish in the Americas, where Spaniards could by law exact tribute and labor from indigenous Americans, degenerating into a form of slavery
• The Colombian Exchange led to the subjugation of people in the Americas