The American Nation A History of the United States, Combined Volume (14th Edition)

28 Chapter 1 Alien Encounters: Europe in the Americas

Columbian ExchangeThe Western Hemisphere—the Americas—has for many thousands of years been separated from the rest of the world
by two great oceans. This has meant that its plants, animals, and even bacteria and viruses evolved differently. Columbus’s voyage thus
inaugurated an exchange, as plants and animals native to the Americas (such as corn and turkeys) were transmitted to the “Old World,” and
those from Europe, Africa, or Asia (bananas and horses) found their way to the Americas. The intersection of two worlds also resulted in an
exchange of technologies and diseases.

Horses, absent from the Americas for nearly 10,000 years,

returned aboard Spanish ships. They awed Native Americans

at first and played a crucial role in European conquests.

“After God,” the Spanish wrote, “we owe victory to the horses.”

NEW WORLD

to OLD WORLD

Corn, Beans, Squash (Mexico),

Potato, Tomato (Peru),

Pumpkin, Peanut, Sunflower

(Eastern U.S.),

Turkey, Canoe

Syphilis

Smallpox,

Malaria,

Yellow Fever

The Uneven

Exchange

of Disease