1) The Columbian Exchange
The Columbian Exchange is the transfer of plants, animals and disease between the ‘Old World’ and the ‘New World’.
Answer the following questions in complete sentences
1)
2)
3)
4)
Name three plants that went from the Americas to the rest of the world.
Name three animals that were introduced into the Americas.
What crop important here in Florida came from the ‘Old World’?
Name three diseases that came to the Americas with the Europeans.
#2 Put the following explorers in chronological order and then create a timeline
on your paper with their names and dates.
Diaz – 1487
Around Africa to Asia
Da Gama – 1497 Coast of Africa
Columbus – 1492
Caribbean
Vespucci – 1499
South America
Magellan-1519
Circumnavigate the Globe
#3 Disease
Native Americans have been affected by disease and health concerns throughout their history, but a major turning point in
Native American disease presence was with the arrival of Europeans. This ushered in what is termed the Columbian
Exchange. During this period European settlers brought many
different technologies and lifestyles with them, but one of the
most harmful effects of this exchange was the arrival and spread
of disease. Native Americans, due to the lack of prior contact
with Europeans, had not previously been exposed to the
diseases that were prevalent on the distant continent. Therefore
they had not built up internal immunities to the diseases or
formed any medicines to combat them. Europeans came into the
New World bearing various diseases. Those infected with
diseases either possessed them in a dormant state or were not
quarantined in such a way that distanced them enough from
Native Americans to not spread the diseases, allowing diseases
to spread into epidemics.
and all were not equally recorded. The most
Europeans was the
destructive smallpox disease. Smallpox was
Americans, bringing sweeping epidemics and
repeatedly. It weakened both the Aztecs and the
Conquistadors’ easy victory over the empires.
Americans lost their lives due to these illnesses.
Answer the following questions in complete sentences.
1) Why were European diseases deadly to Native Americans?
2) What was the most destructive disease of the Columbian Exchange?
3) How did disease help the Conquistadors?
The diseases brought by
Europeans are not easily
tracked, because there
were numerous outbreaks
notable disease brought by
lethal to many Native
affecting the same tribes
Inca allowing
Nearly 80% of Native
4) What percentage of Native Americans died as a result of these disease?
#4 Cortez to King Charles V
Cortez was the Conquistador that defeated the Aztecs below he explains some of his experiences in the ‘New World’.
“There are all kinds of green vegetables, especially onions, leeks, garlic, watercresses, nasturtium, borage, sorrel,
artichokes, and golden thistle; fruits also of numerous descriptions, amongst which are cherries and plums, similar to
those in Spain; honey and wax from bees, and from the stalks of maize, which are as sweet as the sugar-cane; honey is
also extracted from the plant called maguey, which is superior to sweet or new wine; from the same plant they extract
sugar and wine, which they also sell. Different kinds of cotton thread of all colors in skeins are exposed for sale in one
quarter of the market, which has the appearance of the silk-market at Granada, although the former is supplied more
abundantly. Painters' colors, as numerous as can be found in Spain, and as fine shades; deerskins dressed and
undressed, dyed different colors;
earthen-ware of a large size
and excellent quality; large and small
jars, jugs, pots, bricks, and
endless variety of vessels, all made of
fine clay, and all or most of
them glazed and painted; maize or
Indian corn, in the grain and
in the form of bread, preferred in the
grain for its flavor to that of
the other islands and terra-firma;
patés of birds and fish; great
quantities of fish---fresh, salt, cooked
and uncooked; the eggs of
hens, geese, and of all the other birds
I have mentioned, in great
abundance, and cakes made of eggs;
finally, everything that can
be found throughout the whole
country is sold in the
markets, comprising articles so
numerous that to avoid
prolixity, and because their names are
not retained in my memory,
or are unknown to me, I shall not
attempt to enumerate them.”
Hernan Cortés: from Second Letter to
Charles V, 1520
Answer the following questions in complete sentences.
1) Who was Cortez?
2) Who was he writing the letter to?
3) What type of place is he describing?
4) According to the letter did the Aztecs seem uncivilized?
#5 Map of Columbus’ Voyages
Answer the following questions in complete sentences
1)
2)
3)
4)
How many voyages did Columbus take according to the map?
What color represents his 3rd voyage?
On what voyage did he travel to Central America?
On what voyage did he travel to what is now the USA?