Transcript Christopher Columbus and The Columbian Exchange

Warm-Up #2
Journal:
1. What do you think the Natives’ first
thoughts about Columbus were? Be
specific, put yourself in their position.
2. What do you think Columbus did when he
first stepped onto land in the Americas?
Christopher Columbus
and
The Columbian Exchange
Ships
• Sailed for
Spain because
Italy said no
• 3 ships:
– Nina
– Pinta
– Santa Maria
Why Make the Trip?????
• Changing times
• More literate people because
of printing press invented in
1454 by Johannes Gutenberg
• Columbus was courageous
trying to find new sea routes
for trade with the East Indies
Why? cont’d
• Changes in technology:
bigger guns that could be
strapped on ships
• Columbus wanted a
western route to Asia to
find the riches that
Marco Polo talked about
in his book
• Was Columbus
courageous?
– No, he was greedy and only
wanted gold
How did Columbus get there and what
happened when he made it?
• Columbus used instruments
such as Celestial Navigation,
Astrolabe, Quadrant, and
Dead Reckoning
• Columbus spotted land in
October of 1492 which he
thought was the East Indies
of Asia. He named the people
he encountered Indians
because he thought he was in
the East Indies but he really
landed in the Caribbean
Does Columbus Deserve Credit for
Discovering America?
• Yes or no
– What do you think???
If not Columbus, then who “discovered”
America?
• Native Americans were already living there
• Vikings voyaged to Scandinavia, Greenland, and coast of North
America
• Columbus may have received idea when visiting Iceland in 1477
hearing of Viking travels
• Historians believe people from Asia and Africa made it here first
Who? Cont’d
• Afro-Phoenicians from
South Africa are believed
to explored America
thousands of years before
Columbus
• Olmec statues carved out
by native Americans in 750
BC bear a strong
resemblance to these
African people meaning
they must have seen or met
these Afro-Phoenicians
What Happened After Columbus?
• Spanish Conquistadors took Riches and
forced natives to convert to
Christianity
• Columbus’ initial impression of the
Natives was favorable: “At daybreak
great multitudes of men came to the
shore, all young and of fine shapes, and
very handsome… I was very attentive to
them, and strove to learn if they had
any gold… I could conquer the whole lot
of them with fifty men and govern them
as I pleased.”
What Happened After, Cont’d
• On first Voyage, Columbus kidnapped 10-25 natives and put
them on display for the King and Queen of Spain, leading to
the King giving Columbus 17 new ships with 1200-1500 men,
cannons, Crossbows, guns, and attack dogs to take with him
• His second trip in 1493 landed Columbus in Haiti where he
took food and other riches and punished those who got in
his way
What happened cont’d
• A tribute system was set up
by the Spanish forcing
natives to work by delivering
cotton and gold .
• Natives first worked
peacefully but later resisted
by abandoning settlements
• Later they fought back
aggressively but were torn
down by European technology
and diseases
The Columbian Exchange
• Columbus’ voyages may have had greater
consequences biologically than culturally
 The
was coined to
describe the worldwide redistribution of
plants, animals, and diseases that
resulted from the initial contacts
between Europeans and Natives.
Impact of Columbian Exchange
• Disease- 90 percent decrease in
population resulted because of lack
of immunity to European diseases
• Political and spiritual leaders died
and left traditions in disarray;
• Subsistence (food) cycles were
disrupted; family life was
devastated.
• These losses put American Indians
at a disadvantage when they
fought to protect their lands or
attempted to negotiate treaties
with imperial powers.
• Since the Europeans were largely
immune to the diseases that corroded
native life, they were able to take and
hold an advantage over the tribes. They
turned their attention to learning to use
the domesticated animals and plants
they encountered in the New World.
Columbian Exchange
• Old World (Europe) to New World
(Americas)
– Disease:
• measles
• chicken pox
• smallpox
• yellow fever
• Malaria
• influenza (flu)
• common cold
Columbian Exchange
• New World (Americas) to Old
World (Europe)
– Disease
• Syphillis
Columbian Exchange
• Old World (Europe) to New World
(Americas)
– Plants:
rice
wheat
barley
oats
coffee
sugarcane
bananas
melons
olives
dandelions
daisies
ragweed
Kentucky bluegrass
Columbian Exchange
• New World (Americas) to Old World
(Europe)
– Plants:
avocados
pumpkins
peanuts
pineapple
corn (maize)
tobacco
potatoes (white / sweet)
beans (snap / kidney, lima)
cacao (source of chocolate)
chicle (source of gum)
guavas
squash
Columbian Exchange
• Old World (Europe) to New World
(Americas)
– Animals:
•
•
•
•
•
•
horses
cattle
pigs
sheep
goats
chickens
Columbian Exchange
• New World (Americas) to Old
World (Europe)
– Animals:
• llamas
• alpacas
• guinea pigs
What was the Effect of the
Columbian Exchange?
2. What was the effect of the Columbian
Exchange?
a. Both hemispheres were introduced to
new foods and animals that changed entire
societies.
b. Potatoes and corn became major food
sources for Europeans allowing populations to
increase greatly.
c. The introduction of pigs, cows, and
horses gave new food sources and new animals
for the Native Americans to use.
What was the Effect of the
Columbian Exchange?
d. The diseases the Europeans brought
with them killed up to 90% of the Native
Americans in the New World. European
conquest of the Native Americans was made
easy by the effect disease had on the
Natives.
e. The Native Americans had never been
exposed to these diseases so their bodies
could not fight them. Europeans had lived
with these diseases for thousands of year and
were not as likely to die from them.
Cultural Diffusion
• The spread of ideas, customs, and
technologies from one people to
another.
• Cultural diffusion occurs through
migration, trade and warfare.
Mercantilism
New Economic Policy
• Founding of colonies, new
goods in Europe led to
significant changes
• 1500s, Europeans developed
new economic policy,
mercantilism
Intense Competition
• Wealth measured by amount of
gold, silver possessed by nation
• Mercantilists believed there was
fixed amount of wealth in world
• Nation’s strength depended on
its wealth
• For one nation to become
wealthier, more powerful—had
to take wealth, power away
from another nation
• Wealthy nation had power for
military and expanded influence
• Mercantilism led to intense
competition between nations
Balance of Trade
• Mercantilists built wealth two ways—extract gold, silver from mines at
home, in colonies; sell more goods than it bought from foreign
countries, creating favorable balance of trade
• With favorable balance of trade, country received more gold, silver
from other nations than it paid to them
• Increased its power; weakened foreign competitors
Imports
• To achieve favorable balance of
trade, could reduce amount of
imports by placing tariffs on goods
Exports
• Encourage exports that could sell
for higher prices than raw materials
• Importer paid tariff, added cost to
price of good
• Countries encouraged
manufacturing and export of
manufactured goods
• Imported goods more expensive,
discouraged people from buying
• Governments provided subsidies
to help start new industries