Age of Exploration and Columbian Exchange

From Columbus to Vasco De Gama & So on

Open Ended

Why do YOU think Europeans first started coming to the America's?

Poll

Imagine you're alive during this time period:

Are these enough reasons for YOU to travel to the New World

• Yes

• No

• Maybe

Reasons for the Age of Exploration

Find a Sea Route to Asia
– Merchants & traders hoped to

profit from the trade of spices &
other luxury goods from Asia

• Silk road trade routes were

dangerous

• Sea was dangerous due to storms

and pirates, so spices were very
expensive

– Became more expensive due to

Turkish Empire cutting off trade
routes. Could not defeat Turks in
battle, so needed to find a way
around the Turkish Empire

• This meant finding a direct sea

route to Asia

Open Ended

What do we see in this picture? What seems to be missing or odd about it?

Advances in Technology

Multiple Select

What does the size of Zheng He's ship imply about China?

• They have a lot of Resources

• They want to conquer other civilizations

• They are technologically advanced

• They want to trade with other countries

Open Ended

Which countries is Zheng He traveling to?

1492:
Christopher Columbus reaches the Caribbean.

Goal of Expedition
– Find a shorter route to Asia but also

find Gold & Resources

Immediate Outcomes
– Increased tensions between Spain &

Portugal

– Portuguese involvement in the New

World

Long-Term Outcomes
– Opened the Americas to European

exploration

– Connected the Western & Eastern

Hemisphere

– Kickstarted the COLUMBIAN

exchange

The Columbian Exchange: What is it?

Beginning of widespread
trade between the New &
Old world.

Plants, animals, cultures,
populations, technologies,
diseases, etc. traded
between Europeans & The
New World.

Begins with Columbus
arriving in the America’s
& expands afterword’s.

The Beginning of “World”
History

Open Ended

What crops & Animals do we see being exchanged between the New & Old Worlds?

The Columbian Exchange: Plants

Effects – The New World

More food - Population
Growth (European)

Food Choices/Variety
Increased – Some
Luxury Foods

Need for more slaves –
Plantations & Small
farming.

Increased animal
population

The Columbian Exchange: Plants

Effects – The Old World

European & African
Populations increased.
– More food & labor via

slavery/farming.

Abundant resources
from The New World
– Metal, Lumber,

Silver/Gold, etc.

New development of
agriculture & Pollution

The Columbian Exchange: Animals

effects

Increased Hunting
& Domestication –
More Trade via
cultures.

Spread of Warfare
via Horseback in
Native Tribes

Further Increase in
Population in New
& Old Worlds

The Columbian Exchange: Animals

Effects

Drastically changed
landscape – altered for
Domestication

Plants + Animals = More
Food & Higher Population

Better Transportation
– New World: Alpacas/Llamas
– Old World: Horses & Oxen

Better for Agriculture
– Animal Plows & Fertilizer

Change in Lifestyle for
Natives – More Hunting

Poll

Is having these new variety of crops & animals a good or bad thing?

• Good

• Bad

• Both

The Columbian Exchange:

Culture/Peoples

Repopulation of the New
World:
– Portuguese, Dutch, British,

& Spanish Colonizers.

– Less land in Europe & more

land in the America’s

– Increase in European +

Slave Populations

Mestizo & Mullato
Populations

Establishment of
Christianity in New World

New Languages & Ideals

Poll

Do the benefits of the Columbian Exchange outweigh the horrific results Europeans arrival to the New World?

• Yes

• No

• Maybe