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Columbian Exchange Facts & Worksheets

Columbian Exchange is the interchange of plants, animals, and diseases from the Old World to the New World following Christopher Columbus' voyages.

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The Columbian exchange or Columbian interchange occurred after Christopher Columbus discovered the New World of the Americas. It is traditionally defined as transferring plants, animals, and diseases from the Old World to the New World. 

See the fact file below for more information on Columbian Exchange or you can download our 26-page Columbian Exchange worksheet pack to utilize within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts & Information

HISTORY

  • By the 1400s, Europeans rising tension with the Middle East had affected their trade with Asians. 
  • They started searching for new trade routes, led by Prince Henry, The Navigator of Portugal. he sailed southward along the west coast of Africa and established trading posts. They wanted to sail around the southern tip of Africa into the Indian Ocean to access the markets of India, China, and Japan. 
  • Christopher Columbus, an Italian explorer, sailed under Spain’s flag and went westward across the Atlantic Ocean, searching for the same routes.
  • His ship departed Spain on August 3, 1492, making a brief stop in the Canary islands. On October 12, he landed on an island we now call the Bahamas, where the native Guanahani people lived. 
  • The New World’s first inhabitants brought domestic dogs with them through the Bering land bridge that once linked Asia and Alaska. These land bridges were erased due to the melting of the sea ice in the Bering Strait. After these, the Americas were isolated from Europe, Africa, and Asia for some 12,000 years. 
  • There is evidence of possible contact with the Polynesians because of the great genetic similarity of the Polynesian sweet potato to the American crop. 
  • On Columbus’ next voyage in 1493, he brought 17 ships and more than 1,000 men to explore the island, expand their settlement and attempt to recreate their Old-World lifestyles and cultures.
  • They also brought animals not present on the island, such as sheep, cows, goats, horses, and pigs, as well as seeds and plant cuttings to try to grow New World crops such as wheat, grapes, and coffee. 
  • Accidental transfer of disease also occurred in the Columbian exchange. 

EXCHANGE OF FOOD AND MEDICINE 

  • During the Colonial era, sugar was an essential commodity and carried the same economic importance as oil today. While refined sugar was available in the Old World, Europe’s harsher climate made sugarcane challenging to grow. 
  • When Columbus brought sugar to the New World, Europeans raced to create sugar plantations in the Americas. The Caribbean islands and other tropical areas soon become the center of sugar production. 
  • On the other hand, the natives from the Americas introduced tobacco to the Europeans. At first, Europeans viewed the Native’s tobacco use as savagery, but when the Europeans took up the habit of smoking, they decided to bring it across the Atlantic. 
  • They marketed it as having medicinal properties and that it could cure headaches and skin irritations until it became a bad habit. In the 1590s, tobacco became a global commodity as its popularity reached other parts of Europe. 
  • Native Americans introduced potatoes and cacao, which can be made into chocolates.
  • The former contributed to the population increase in Europe as potatoes were considered calorically dense. If they planted a field of potatoes instead of wheat, it could feed more people. 
  • Tomatoes were a hit in Italy and cassava in Africa. Asia was introduced to sweet potatoes and maize by the Europeans in 1500, which also contributed to their population growth.   
  • Regarding animals, horses had been a great addition to the New World as they helped them hunt for food. However, pigs had become a problem because Europeans allowed them to roam freely and eat anything, including their crops. Native Americans considered them pests as they multiplied quickly.

EXCHANGE OF CULTURE

  • The Native Americans had their own culture and traditions when the Europeans settled there.
  • However, the Europeans incorporated their own into their lives until the Native customs mainly became obsolete.
  • Europeans brought their religion to the New World. 
  • The spread of Catholicism was one of the purposes of the colonization by Spain and Portugal, while in British America, many natives converted to Protestantism. The Native’s conversion to the European religion was the leading point of Cultural Conversion. 
  • Native Americans do not practice the concept of private property. They always believed that lands are communal. 
  • Europeans introduced this concept by taking what they thought was available, putting fences on it, and turning the land into something more suitable for themselves.  
  • Europeans also abhorred polygamy, human sacrifice, and some indigenous religious practices. Several tribes took on these European beliefs. They also adopted the modern view of the role of women and children in society. 
  • However, Mapuche, an indigenous group, resisted the influence of the Europeans. They are in present-day south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina. 

EXCHANGE OF DISEASES

  • The Old World brought not only food and culture but also diseases. 
  • The pigs aboard Columbus’ ship in 1493 immediately spread swine flu. It infected Columbus himself and other Europeans. 
  • However, it became deadly for the native Taino population, who had no prior exposure to the virus. 
  • A Spanish historian, Bartolomé de las Casas reported that only a third of them left because of the disease. 
  • Smallpox also spelled disaster for Native Americans in 1519 as they lacked immunity to the disease. The same happened with measles, influenza, chickenpox, bubonic plague, typhus, scarlet fever, pneumonia, and malaria. It was estimated that 80 to 95% of the Native Americans perished because of these diseases. 
  • Despite the many diseases the Old World had brought to the New World, one disease appeared to have made a trip from the Americas to Europe. 
  • In 1495, the first known outbreak of syphilis happened among the troops led by France’s King Charles VIII during his campaign at Naples. 
  • There was a theory that Columbus and his crew had brought the bacteria that caused syphilis back to Europe, and some of them joined King Charles’s army. 
  • There was also some evidence that syphilis had existed in the Old World but had been lumped in with leprosy or other diseases with similar symptoms. 
  • However, recent research found a genetic link between syphilis and a tropical disease called yaws, which supports the Columbian theory.

THE SLAVE TRADE

  • The prosperous plantations in the Caribbean led to increasing demand for labor forces to work in the plantations.
  • However, the diseases that affected the lives of most Native Americans led to a labor shortage. It also contributed to African slavery on a vast scale in the Americas, which started in 1520. 
  • Powerful tribe leaders usually captured enslaved people during raids on their neighboring countries. They would be brought to the West Coast of Africa, imprisoned, and traded with Europeans in exchange for guns and other goods.
  • The enslaved Africans had to wait for hundreds of years before a movement for slavery abolition developed and gave them freedom. 

Columbian Exchange Worksheets

This is a fantastic bundle that includes everything you need to know about the Columbian Exchange across 26 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use worksheets that are perfect for teaching kids about the Columbian Exchange, which is the interchange of plants, animals, and diseases from the Old World to the New World following Christopher Columbus’ voyages.

Complete List of Included Worksheets

Below is a list of all the worksheets included in this document.

  1. Columbian Exchange Facts
  2. Columbian Interchange
  3. Timeline of the Exchange
  4. Food Trade
  5. Cultural Exchange 
  6. The Good and the Bad
  7. Trading of Diseases
  8. Details to Remember
  9. The Old and New World
  10. The Transfer of Diseases
  11. Black Lives Matter

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Link will appear as Columbian Exchange Facts & Worksheets: https://kidskonnect.com - KidsKonnect, November 30, 2022

Use With Any Curriculum

These worksheets have been specifically designed for use with any international curriculum. You can use these worksheets as-is, or edit them using Google Slides to make them more specific to your own student ability levels and curriculum standards.

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