Columbian Exchange OER

Open Ended

What is your favorite meal?

Open Ended

List four to six of the ingredients in your favorite meal.

Draw

Mark the origin of each ingredient on the map below . Usehighlighters or symbols to indicate which ingredients originated in the Old World (Europe, Asia, Africa) versus the New World (the Americas).

Open Ended

Would your favorite meal exist if the Columbian Exchange hadn’t connected the Old and New Worlds? Write a short reflection (two or three sentences) on how global trade affects what you eat

Multiple Choice

1. Which of the following is the BEST example of domestication?

• A. A herd of wild horses running freely across the plains

• B. Farmers training oxen to pull plows in their fields

• C. A group of hunters chasing deer through a forest

• D. A fisherman catching fish in the open ocean

Multiple Choice

2. What happens during an epidemic?

• A. A small group of people get sick from contaminated food

• B. A famine causes food shortages across several villages

• C. A disease spreads widely across a community or region, affecting many people

• D. An indigenous group creates new farming practices

Multiple Choice

3. Which of these groups would be considered indigenous to the Americas?

• A. English settlers in Jamestown, Virginia

• B. Spanish conquistadors in Mexico

• C. The Aztec and Inca peoples before European contact

• D. Portuguese traders bringing sugar to Brazil

Multiple Choice

4. The Columbian Exchange can BEST be described as:

• A. A war between Indigenous peoples and Europeans

• B. A transfer of goods, plants, animals, and ideas between the Americas and Afro-Eurasia

• C. The spread of Christianity during the Crusades

• D. A treaty signed by Spain and Portugal to divide new lands

Open Ended

What is this article going to be about? (Think, Jot and Share)

Multiple Choice

Why were Indigenous Americans especially vulnerable to Afro-Eurasian diseases?

• A. They lived in small groups and had limited genetic diversity

• B. They did not have many domesticated animals

• C. They had no previous exposure to diseases like smallpox and measles

• D. All of the above

Multiple Choice

How did epidemic diseases introduced during the Columbian Exchange affect both the environment and the economy in the Americas?

• They caused major population changes, increased forest and animal populations, and contributed to the rise of slavery and forced labor.

• They led to the extinction of all native animals.

• They improved the health of indigenous people.

• They caused a decrease in agricultural production only.

Multiple Choice

What animals were domesticated by humans in the Americas before and after the Columbian Exchange?

• Before: llamas, alpacas, and some small animals. After: horses, cattle, sheep, goats, and pigs.

• Before: horses, cattle, sheep, goats, and pigs. After: llamas, alpacas, and some small animals.

• Before: only wild animals. After: all animals were domesticated.

• Before: chickens and ducks. After: llamas and alpacas.

Match

3. Effects of Epidemics

Cause | Effect

• Massive population decline

• Lack of available workers

• Introduction of new European animals

Forests regrew and animal populations in

Rise of the Atlantic slave trade and for

Horses transformed Indigenous hunting an

• Forests regrew and animal populations in

• Rise of the Atlantic slave trade and for

• Horses transformed Indigenous hunting an

Open Ended

List two animals domesticated in the Americas before the Columbian Exchange and two animals introduced after the Columbian Exchange.