The Western World Daily Readings on Geography Chapter 67 Latin America and the Caribbean (LACAR) Historical Geography I

CHAPTER 67 Latin America and the Caribbean ( Historical Geography I The Columbian Exchange The Columbian Exchange refers to the transfer of culture , technology , people , and products between these two regions . Before Columbus discovery , the people of the Old World ( Europe , Africa , and Asia ) and the New World ( the Americas ) had not been in contact with one another for thousands of years . These two regions had developed different cultures and technologies , had domesticated different plants and animals , and had suffered from different diseases . Here is a list of some of the things that were part of the exchange Old World to New World Culture Christianity , European languages , European political and economic systems Animals chickens , cows , donkeys , goats , honey bees , horses , pigs , sheep Plants rice , wheat , apples , bananas , barley , carrots , coffee , oranges , lemons , lettuce , olives , onions , peaches Diseases smallpox , measles , influenza , malaria , chicken pox , cholera , diphtheria 327

328 AND SCOTT CAMPBELL New World to Old World a Animals llamas , turkeys peppers , cacao , potatoes , tomatoes , corn ( maize ) rubber , tobacco , peanuts , lager yeast Diseases syphilis As you can see , the cultural exchange largely went one way . Every country in Latin America is now predominantly Christian , Spanish and Portuguese are now the majority languages , and the economic and political systems of every country are based on European systems . Along with this came people millions of Europeans resettled in the Americas , along with enslaved Africans and , later , migrants from Asia . Few cultural traits or people went the other direction . The agricultural components of the Columbian Exchange also permanently altered the cultures of the New World . It is difficult to imagine , for example , Native Americans cultures like the Lakota Sioux not having horses , but horses did arrive in North America until the , when they were introduced by the Spanish . Subsequently , a culture of horses and cattle ranching became engrained in the national identity of the United States , Mexico , and Argentina , among others . And many of the basic food crops of the Americas were first domesticated in the Old World . Created by akbar from Noun The effect ofthe Columbian Exchange on Old World agriculture and eating habits was no less profound . If you like Italian food ( and who does ) it tough to imagine it without tomato sauce , but the tomato was unseen in Italy until the . Potatoes , so integral to the cuisines of countries like Germany and Ireland , were first domesticated in Peru , and arrived in Europe around the same time . Corn ( known as maize outside North America ) has become a staple food crop in Africa . Cacao , which is used to make chocolate , is one of Africa leading exports . And the yeast used to ferment lager that wonderful beer that was perfected by the Germans , Austrians , and was discovered in Argentina . Another New World product was the chili pepper . Integral to cuisines throughout the world and famously important in Indian , Thai , Vietnamese , and Chinese food chili peppers were not spicing up the Old World until about five centuries ago . Perhaps the most significant , and certainly the most devastating impact of the Columbian Exchange was the introduction of diseases to the Americas . For thousands of years , various diseases had evolved in the Old World , including smallpox , measles , influenza , malaria , chicken pox , cholera , diphtheria . As we seen with the pandemic , diseases can be particularly devastating when they are first introduced to the human population , because no one has developed an immunity to it . By the , measles , smallpox , and the flu had killed scores of people in the Old World , but over the course of many centuries , a lot of Europeans , Africans , and Asians had developed immune systems that were resistant to those diseases . In 1492 , nobody in the Americas

LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN ( HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY I 329 had ever been exposed to them , so there was no herd When these diseases were introduced by Europeans , they swept through the population like wildfire , killing millions . By 1650 , the population of Native Americans in Latin America , which had perhaps been as large as 100 million , had dwindled to under million . As far we know , only one disease went the other way syphilis . Syphilis is venereal disease , and outbreaks would spread throughout the Old World in the centuries after the Conquest . There is some evidence that many members of Columbus crew actually died of syphilis after they returned to Spain , something that some Native Americans view as a form of poetic justice . And , of course , Native Americans also unleashed a scourge in the Columbian Exchange that would kill millions of people in the Old World tobacco . Did You Know ?

Although the potato is indigenous to Latin America , none of the world ten largest potato producing countries China , India , Russia , Ukraine , the United States , Germany , Poland , France , and the Netherlands are located there . Brazil comes closest , in place .