Quick Facts Teaching Strategy 39
The Columbian Exchange
Analyzing Information Charts Engage students in a discussion of the chart using the following open-ended prompts as a guide.
•
Which items do you think would be most valued by the people of the Americas? Why? By the
people of Europe/Africa/Asia? Why? Answers will vary. Encourage students to discuss both plants
and animals and to explain their reasoning for their choices.
•
How do you think the people of the Americas reacted to the influx of the new diseases? How
might the people of Europe/Africa/Asia have lessened the effects of these diseases? Answers will
vary. Students may say that the diseases were more lethal to the people of the Americas because
they had no immunity to them. Students may say that the Europeans could have lessened the
devastation caused by the diseases by sharing their knowledge of the diseases, sharing treatment
methods and medicine, and by sending doctors to aid the sick and train the locals to care for them.
English-Language Learners Have students look at the charts. Ask students what is different
about the two charts. (The Old World chart has an extra column for the diseases they brought to the
Americas.) Have students point out what the Americas had more of (plants) and what the Old
World had more of (animals).
Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.
Quick Facts Transparencies
Quick Facts 39
The Columbian Exchange
Animals
avocados
beans
cashews
chili peppers
chocolate
corn
papayas
peanuts
pecans
pineapples
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Plants
Diseases
cholera
influenza
malaria
measles
smallpox
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From Europe, Africa, and Asia
cattle
chickens
donkeys
goats
horses
housecats
mice and rats
pigs
rabbits
sheep
Animals
THE COLUMBIAN EXCHANGE
• potatoes
• rubber
• squash
• strawberries
• sweet
potatoes
• tobacco
• tomatoes
• vanilla
Plants
From the Americas
• guinea pigs
• llamas
• turkeys
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• bananas
• black pepper
• citrus fruits
• coffee
• garlic and
onions
• lettuce
• peaches and
pears
• sugar
• wheat, rye,
and oats
Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.