Date: 1492
Location: Caribbean Region
Category: Migration
The Columbian Exchange refers to the widespread transfer of plants, animals, people, technology, culture, and diseases between the Old World of Europe, Africa, and Asia and the New World of the Americas after Christopher Columbus’s 1492 voyage. The term was popularized by historian Alfred W. Crosby in his 1972 book The Columbian Exchange. The exchange transformed both hemispheres. New World crops such as potatoes, maize, and tomatoes changed diets and agriculture across Europe, Africa, and Asia, while Old World animals including horses and cattle reshaped landscapes and economies in the Americas. It also had devastating consequences: diseases such as smallpox, measles, and influenza caused catastrophic mortality among Indigenous peoples, who had no prior exposure to many of these infections. The Caribbean was among the regions most severely affected.
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