Columbian Exchange
Define the Columbian Exchange in one sentence
The widespread transfer of plants, animals, people, diseases, and ideas between the Americas and Europe/Africa after 1492.
What was the Atlantic slave trade?
The forced transport and enslavement of Africans across the Atlantic to work in European colonies.
Give one reason Europe industrialized before other regions (hint: resources or institutions).
Example: access to coal and iron, colonies providing raw materials and markets, political stability, capital and banking systems.
Explain how technological advances from ancient civilizations (like navigation tools, mapmaking, or shipbuilding) helped Europeans begin long ocean voyages
Examples: improved ships (caravel), astrolabe, magnetic compass, portolans/maps.
Give two examples of Old World (Europe/Asia/Africa) biological introductions to the Americas and two examples of New World items introduced to Europe.
Old → New: horses, wheat; New → Old: maize (corn), potatoes.
(There are many correct answers)
Name two economic reasons Europeans turned to enslaved African labor in their Atlantic colonies.
Examples: cash crops (sugar, tobacco) needed labor; European labor shortages and profits incentivized slavery.
What is Imperialism?
When a country extends control over other territories politically, economically, or culturally.
Describe the basic idea of chinampa agriculture used by the Aztecs and one advantage it provided.
Chinampas: artificial, fertile islands built in shallow lake beds; advantage: high yields, year-round cultivation, efficient water access.
Explain one positive and one negative effect of the exchange of plants or animals on societies in the Americas
Positive: new staple crops (potatoes) increased calories in Europe; Negative: introduction of invasive species or diseases harming ecosystems/peoples.
(Many correct answers)
Describe one way enslaved Africans resisted enslavement and one consequence of that resistance.
Resistance: work slowdowns, escape (maroon communities), revolts; consequences: harsher laws, military crackdowns.
Describe one technological innovation of the Industrial Revolution and explain how it increased production
Example: steam engine — increased speed and scale of production and transportation.
Explain how terracing worked in Andean (Inca) agriculture and why terraces helped farming at high elevations.
Terraces: stepped fields cut into mountain slopes with retaining walls; advantages: reduced erosion, retained water, created level planting areas.
Describe how disease transfer during the Columbian Exchange impacted indigenous populations in the Americas, and explain why this change was significant.
Diseases like smallpox caused massive indigenous population decline, enabling conquest and colonization.
Explain how the slave trade affected African societies politically or demographically; provide one specific example
Example: population loss in some regions, rise of powerful coastal kingdoms trading slaves, increased warfare/famine.
Give two motives (economic, political, or social) that drove European imperialism in the 19th century.
Motives: raw materials, new markets, national prestige, strategic advantage, civilizing missions.
This Andean civilization lacked a conventional writing system but used a system of knotted cords called quipu for recordkeeping, accounting, and possibly narrative information
Inca
Using multiple perspectives, evaluate how the Columbian Exchange reshaped diets, labor systems, and global economic connections between 1500–1700.
Sample synthesis: New staples boosted European population and labor markets; disease reduced indigenous labor and social structures; exchange tied global markets together.
Analyze the roles of European demand, African intermediaries, and environmental/geographic factors in creating and sustaining the Atlantic slave trade.
Claim: Demand for plantation labor in the Americas + African political intermediaries + navigable routes and coastal ports enabled the trade.
Explain one way industrialization encouraged European imperialism, using an economic example
Industrial factories needed raw materials (rubber, cotton) and markets, prompting territorial control.
What made cultural diffusion in Latin America difficult?
North to South layout of civilizations made it difficult. European civilizations being laid out East to West made it easier for people, ideas and good to spread along similar climate zones.