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CHAPTER
20
Date
GUIDED READING
Section 4
The Columbian Exchange and
Global Trade
A. Analyzing Causes and Recognizing Effects As you read this section, note some
cause-and-effect relationships relating to the European colonization of the Americas.
Causes
Event/Trend
Effects
1. Columbian Exchange
2. Global Trade
3. Inflation
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4. Formation of joint-stock
companies
5. Growth of mercantilism
B. Determining Main Ideas Define the terms capitalism and favorable balance
of trade.
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
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CHAPTER
GEOGRAPHY APPLICATION: MOVEMENT
20
The Potato Impacts the World
Section 4
Directions: Read the paragraphs below and study the map carefully. Then answer
the questions that follow.
T
he spread of the white potato over 400 years
ago revolutionized the world’s food supply. One
writer even went so far as to proclaim that the planting of the first white potatoes in Europe “probably
changed more lives than the deeds of a hundred
kings.”
In the mid-1500s, Spanish explorers discovered
the Inca growing white potatoes in the Andes
Mountains of modern-day Peru and Chile and
brought the plant to Europe. Even though there
was some resistance to eating potatoes for the next
200 years, eventually the white potato became the
world’s most widely grown vegetable. The potato
was a cheap source of valuable proteins, vitamins,
and minerals. This may account for the rapid
growth of the European population after 1700.
In the United States, the common white potato
is known as the Irish potato. Its official introduction
to North America came in 1613 when a shipment
from England reached Bermuda, an island about
500 miles east of present-day North Carolina. Eight
years later the governor of Bermuda sent a chest
filled with potatoes to the governor of the Virginia
colony. Yet potatoes did not find wide-spread
acceptance on the continent. Potatoes were then
reintroduced to the United States in 1719. In that
year several Irish immigrants brought potatoes to
New Hampshire, and the vegetable finally took
hold. It eventually became almost a daily item on
American dinner menus.
Today corn and potatoes are the two main vegetable crops in the United States. An acre of potatoes yields almost twice as much food as an acre of
grain. This permits the United States to produce
around 400 million bags of potatoes annually.
The Spread of the Potato to Europe and North America
to N ort
h A merica
1 7 1 9 ( a s a major crop)
FINLAND 1735
SWEDEN
1726
Dublin
London 1599
1580
Frankfurt 1580
to N orth Am
erica (Berm
uda) 1613
Paris
Vienna
ienna 1580
HUNGAR
HUNGARY
1654
Lyon
yon
Milan
1600
1565
Madrid
from Chile
from Peru
92 Unit 4, Chapter 20
SPAIN
SPAIN
Rome 1566
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Edinburgh
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The Potato Impacts the World continued
Interpreting Text and Visuals
1. What do the arrows on the map represent?__________________________________________
Why are there two different arrow styles? __________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
2. What European country was first introduced to the potato? ____________________________
The potatoes that arrived in Dublin came from which Andean region?____________________
3. Trace the route that the potato took to reach Vienna.__________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
What is significant about the year that Vienna got the potato? __________________________
4. Did the potato reach London or Paris first? ________________________________________
5. Which of the European countries shown on the map was last to receive the potato? ________
____________________________________________________________________________
6. How long did it take for the potato to get from London to the south of France and from Madrid
to Rome? ____________________________________________________________________
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7. Explain what the arrow leading from London toward North America represents. __________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
8. Why do you think the common white potato is known as the Irish potato in the United States?
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
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CONNECTIONS ACROSS TIME AND CULTURES
CHAPTER
20
Section 4
THEMATIC CONNECTION:
Impact of the Columbian
Exchange
CULTURAL INTERACTION
In this chapter you learned about the colonization of the Americas and the
global transfer of plants, animals, foods, and diseases. Which aspects of the
Columbian Exchange continue to influence modern-day cultures? To find out,
complete the activities that follow.
1. Here is a list of products that people use today. In the space beside each one, explain
how it results from the Columbian Exchange. The first is done for you.
Dutch chocolate
chocolate came from the Americas; Holland is in Europe
a. Italian tomato sauce
b. Florida oranges
c. Colombian coffee
d. Irish potatoes
e. French vanilla
f. woolen Navajo blankets
g. Texas beef steak
2. Under early mercantilism, European nations sought to import raw materials from the
Americas and ship manufactured goods to their colonies. Has that pattern changed in
© McDougal Littell Inc. All rights reserved.
today’s world? Give reasons for your answer. __________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
3. Diseases from Europe were part of the Columbian Exchange. They devastated the
peoples of the Americas. What more recent examples of disease spreading across
the globe can you think of? ________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
4. Think of foods you and your family have eaten recently. Which originally came from
the Americas? Which came from Europe, Asia, or Africa? Use the diagram on page 572
to recall where various foods came from. ____________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
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CHAPTER
20
RETEACHING ACTIVITY
Section 4
The Columbian Exchange
and Global Trade
Determining Main Ideas
Write your answers in the blanks provided.
1. The global transfer of foods, plants, and animals during the colonization of the Americas:
__________________________________________________________________________
2. New plants that came to the Americas from Europe, Asia, and Africa:
__________________________________________________________________________
3. The two most important food items that were exported from the Americas: ____________
__________________________________________________________________________
4. An unwelcome part of the transatlantic trade to the Americas:
__________________________________________________________________________
5. An economic system based on private ownership and investment of resources for profit:
__________________________________________________________________________
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6. A steady rise in the price of goods: ____________________________________________
7. A business venture that involved a number of people combining their wealth for a common purpose:
__________________________________________________________________________
8. An economic policy that relied on the belief that a country’s power depended mainly on its wealth:
__________________________________________________________________________
9. A country establishes this by selling more goods than it buys: ________________________
10. The economic revolution in Europe spurred the growth of these two things:
__________________________________________________________________________
The Atlantic World 107