Question

Explain what is meant by the Columbian Exchange. Give an example of a product or resource that was part of this important cultural exchange between continents.

Answer 1

The columbian exchange is the exchange of goods between Europe and its colonies in North and South America.

Answer 2

The Columbian Exchange was the transfer of a large number of plants and animals, technology and cultural achievements, as well as population groups (including the forced relocation of slaves) from the Old World to the New World and vice versa as a result of the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus in 1492. Exchange has also led to the spread of disease.

Many animals and plants came to another continent, such as rats from Europe, and Colorado beetles from America. Among the transferred plants there were many weeds, such as tobacco, cocaine bush, hops, hodgepodge, wild oats and kudzu, and a number of parasitic fungi.