USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Christopher Columbus introduced horses, sugar plants, and disease to the New World, while facilitating the introduction of New World commodities like sugar, tobacco, chocolate, and potatoes to the Old World. The process by which commodities, people, and diseases crossed the Atlantic is known as the Columbian Exchange.

Detailed explanation-2: -The list of infectious diseases that spread from the Old World to the New is long; the major killers include smallpox, measles, whooping cough, chicken pox, bubonic plague, typhus, and malaria (Denevan, 1976, p.

Detailed explanation-3: -The Columbian Exchange resulted in an increase in global trade, with a wider variety of goods available on both sides of the Atlantic. New food sources spurred population growth in Europe, while new diseases wiped out much of the native population in the Americas.

Detailed explanation-4: -Often referred to as one of the most pivotal events in world history, the Columbian exchange altered life on 3 separate continents. The new plants and animals brought to the Americas and the new plants brought back to Europe transformed farming and human diets.

Detailed explanation-5: -Thus, in 1493, Columbus began a process of swapping Old and New World plants and animals along with stowaway pests, weeds, and germs. As a result, both the Old and New Worlds were changed. Texas historian Alfred W. Crosby called this global enterprise the “Columbian Exchange.”