Unit 4: Topic 3 - Columbian Exchange Flashcards
How did European conquistadors defeat the Native Americans?
Disease. Europe brought smallpox, influzena, measles, and malaria to the Americas. As these diseases came from the Old World, Europeans had developed immunity to them, but Native Americans who have never encountered these diseases were heavily afflicted. The indigenous population of the Americas fell by more than 50 percent in less than a century through disease alone. In some areas, up to 90 percent of Native Americans died.
Examples of how the Columbian Exchange expanded religion and culture.
Africans combined European colonizers’ languages with parts of their West African languages and grammatical patterns to create new languages known broadly as creole. They also brought music and food over with them. The dish known as gumbo, popular in the southern United States, has roots in African cooking. Europe also brought Christianity over to the Americas.
Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade
The brutal system of trading African slaves from Africa to the Americas. 90% of slaves went to the Caribbean and South America; only about 6% to British N. America. (until the mid 1800s) The cultivation of cash crops required intense labor, so Europeans tried to enslave Native Americans, but Native Americans knew their ways around the land and could easily escape, so European settlers turned to African labor.
Quinine
An anti-malaria drug isolated from the bark of a cinchona tree that had been used to treat malaria as far back as 1632 and first introduced to Spain as early as 1636 by Jesuit missionaries returning from the Americas. Treatment of malaria with quinine marks the first known use of a chemical compound to treat an infectious disease
Domestication of Horses
Brought to the Americas by the Europeans. the culture of the American Indians living in the plains; they could hunt buffalo efficiently over a larger region which led to a surplus of food which led to other pursuits like art and spirituality. Also led to armed conflict and competition
Columbian Exchange
The exchange of people, plants, animals, diseases, ideas, and technologies between the New World and the Old World during the Age of Exploration.
Smallpox
One of the deadliest known in history, smallpox is and infectious disease caused by the variola virus. It was contagious—meaning, it spread from one person to another. People who had smallpox had a fever and a distinctive, progressive skin rash. Most people with smallpox recovered, but about 3 out of every 10 people with the disease died. Many smallpox survivors have permanent scars over large areas of their body, especially their faces. During the Middle Ages, several smallpox outbreaks occurred in Europe. However, smallpox had not become established there until the population growth and mobility marked by the Crusades allowed it to do so. By the 16th century, smallpox had become entrenched across most of Europe, where it had a mortality rate as high as 30 percent. This endemic occurrence of smallpox in Europe is of particular historical importance, as successive exploration and colonization by Europeans tended to spread the disease to other nations. By the 16th century, smallpox had become a predominant cause of morbidity and mortality throughout much of the world. There were no credible descriptions of smallpox-like disease in the Americas before the westward exploration by Europeans in the 15th century CE. Smallpox was introduced into the Caribbean island of Hispaniola in 1507, and into the North American mainland in 1520, when Spanish settlers from Hispaniola arrived in Mexico, inadvertently carrying smallpox with them.
Maize
Also known as corn, this American crop brought to Afro-Eurasia had directly impacted increasing population due to the crops high yield and capacity to feed large populations. After the arrival of Europeans in 1492, Spanish settlers consumed maize, and explorers and traders carried it back to Europe and introduced it to other countries. Soon maize spread to the rest of the world because of its ability to grow in diverse climates.
Cacao
Native to the Amazon rainforest, the cacao (or cocoa bean) tree was an important commodity in pre-Columiban Mesoamerica and was introduced to Europe by the Spaniards after the conquest of Mexico by Hernan Cortes. Spaniards also introduced the cacao tree into the West Indies and the Philippines. It was also introduced into the rest of Asia, South Asia and into West Africa by Europeans.
Engenhos
Portuguese term for colonial-era sugar cane mills, along with associated facilities. The word itself tends to refer only to the mill but could also be used to descirbe the surrounding area. Most prevalent in Central and South America, it was first introduced to the Americas by Portugal in the middle of the 16th century.
Conquistadors
Militant explorers of the Spanish and Portuguese Empires of the 15th and 16th centuries. During the Age of Discovery, conquistadors sailed beyond Europe to the Americas, Oceania, Africa, and Asia, colonizing and opening trade routes. They brought much of the Americas under the dominion of Spain and Portugal. From 1519 to 1521, Hernán Cortés waged a campaign against the Aztec Empire, ruled by Moctezuma II. Francisco Pizarro subdued the Incan Empire in 1533, as well as others that conquered states up and down Central and South America.
Cash Crops
Crops produced for their commercial value rather than for individual use. Cotton, tobacco, maize and sugar are all examples of cash crops with sugar eventually eclipsing silver as the primary means of acquiring wealth in the European empires
Tobacco
A lucrative cash crop that was mainly used for smoking both socially and ceremonially. In some Native American cultures, tobacco was seen as a gift from the Creator, with the ceremonial tobacco smoke carrying one’s thoughts and prayers to the Creator. Following the arrival of the Europeans to the Americas, tobacco became increasingly popular as a trade item. Tobacco became so popular that the English colony of Jamestown used it as currency and began exporting it as a cash crop; tobacco is often credited as being the export that saved Virginia from ruin.
Potato
America crop brought to Europe and became so popular that they are often thought of as being native to certain regions, such as Ireland. Potatoes became an important staple crop in many parts of the Old World and caused population rises.
