Columbian Exchange

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Columbian Exchange

The Columbian Exchange has been one of the most significant events in the history of world ecology

Ecology

Ecology is the science study of the distribution and Abundance of life and the interactions between organisms and their nature environment ....
, agriculture

Agriculture

Agriculture refers to the production of food and goods through farming and forestry. Agriculture was the key development that led to the rise of civilization, with the animal husbandry of domestication animals and plants creating food surpluses that enabled the development of more Population density and Social stratification societies....
, and culture

Culture

Culture is difficult to define. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions....
. The term is used to describe the enormous widespread exchange of plants, animals, foods, human populations (including slaves), communicable diseases, and ideas between the Eastern

Eastern Hemisphere

The Eastern Hemisphere, also Eastern hemisphere or eastern hemisphere, is a geography term for the half of the Earth that is east of the Prime Meridian and west of 180? longitude....
and Western

Western Hemisphere

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Examples

This exchange of plants and animals transformed European, American, African, and Asian ways of life. Of the world's top 26 crops, measured by weight of production, eight originated in the Americas. One third of the crop value within the United States depends on foods that were first grown in the Americas.

New foods became staples of human diets and new growing region

Growing region

A growing region is an area suited by climate and Agricultural soil science to the agriculture of a certain type of crop. Most crops are cultivated not in one place only, but in several distinct regions in diverse parts of the world....
s opened up for crops. For example, before AD 1000, potatoes were not grown outside of South America. By the 1840s, Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is the List of islands by area in Europe, and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the north-west of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islet....
was so dependent on the potato that a diseased crop led to the devastating Irish Potato Famine. One of the first European imports, the horse

Horse

The horse is a hoofed mammal, a subspecies of one of seven extant species of the family Equidae. The horse has evolution of the horse over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, odd-toed ungulate animal of today....
, changed the lives of many Native American

Native Americans in the United States

Native Americans in the United States are the Indigenous peoples of the Americas from the regions of North America now encompassed by the continental United States United States, including parts of Alaska and the island state of Hawaii....
tribes on the Great Plains

Great Plains

The Great Plains are the broad expanse of prairie and steppe which lie west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains in the United States and Canada....
, allowing them to shift to a nomadic lifestyle based on hunting bison

Bison

Bison is a taxonomic group containing six species of large even-toed ungulates within the subfamily Bovinae. Only two of these species still exist: the American bison and the European bison, or wisent , each with two subspecies....
on horseback. Tomato

Tomato

The Tomato is an herbaceous, usually sprawling plant in the Solanaceae or nightshade family, as are its close cousins Nicotiana, potatoes, aubergine , chilli peppers, and the poisonous Atropa belladonna....
sauce, made from New World tomatoes, became an Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
trademark, while coffee from Africa and sugar cane from Asia became the main crops of extensive Latin America

Latin America

Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages ? particularly Spanish language and Portuguese language, and variably French language ? are primarily spoken....
n plantation

Plantation

A plantation is usually a large farm or Estate , especially in a tropical or semitropical country, like Brazil or Nicaragua on which cotton, tobacco, lice coffee, sugar cane and the like are cultivated, usually by resident laborers....
s. Also the chili

Chili pepper

Chili pepper is the fruit of the plants from the genus Capsicum, members of the Solanaceae, Solanaceae. Botany considers the plant a berry bush....
/paprika

Paprika

Paprika is a spice made from the grinding of many dried sweet red or green bell peppers . In many European countries, the word paprika also refers to bell peppers themselves....
from South America was introduced to India

India

India, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, the List of countries by population country, and the most populous liberal democracy in the world....
by the Portuguese and is today an integral part of Indian cuisine

Indian cuisine

The cuisine of India is characterized by its sophisticated and subtle use of many spices and vegetables grown across India and also for the widespread practice of vegetarianism across its society....
.

Before the Columbian Exchange, there were no orange

Orange (fruit)

An orange?specifically, the sweet orange?is the citrus Citrus sinensis and its fruit. The orange is a Hybrid of ancient cultivated origin, possibly between pomelo and tangerine ....
s in Florida

Florida

Florida is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the northeast....
, no banana

Banana

File:Banana and cross section.jpgBanana is the common name for a fruit and also the herbaceous plants of the genus Musa which produce this commonly eaten fruit....
s in Ecuador

Ecuador

Ecuador , officially the , literally, "Republic of the equator") is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, by Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west....
, no paprika

Paprika

Paprika is a spice made from the grinding of many dried sweet red or green bell peppers . In many European countries, the word paprika also refers to bell peppers themselves....
in Hungary

Hungary

Hungary , officially in English the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in the Carpathian Basin of Central Europe, bordered by Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia....
, no tomatoes in Italy

Italy

Coffee

Coffee is a brewed drink prepared from roasted seeds, commonly called coffee beans, of the Coffea. Caffeinated coffee has a stimulating effect in humans....
in Colombia

Colombia

Colombia , officially the Republic of Colombia , is a country in north-western South America. Colombia is bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the north west by Panama; and to the west by the Pacific Ocean....
, no pineapples in Hawaii

Hawaii

File:Pahoehoe and Aa flows at Hawaii.jpgThe State of Hawaii is a U.S. state in the United States, located on an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of Australia....
, no rubber

Rubber

Natural rubber is an elastomer?an Elasticity_ hydrocarbon polymer?that was originally derived from a milky colloidal suspension, or latex , found in the sap of some plants....
trees in Africa, no cattle

Cattle

Cattle, colloquially referred to as cows, are domestication ungulates, a member of the subfamily Bovinae of the family Bovidae. They are raised as livestock for meat , dairy products , leather and as draft animals ....
in Texas

Texas

Texas is a U.S. state located in the South Central United States, nicknamed the Lone Star State. Texas is the second largest U.S. state in both area and population, spanning , and with a growing population of 24.3 million residents....
, no donkey

Donkey

The 'donkey' or 'ass', Equus africanus asinus, is a Domestication member of the Equidae or horse family, and an Odd-toed ungulates. The wild ancestor of the donkey is the Wild Ass, E....
s in Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federalism constitutionalism republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of Mexico....
, no chili pepper

Chili pepper

Chili pepper is the fruit of the plants from the genus Capsicum, members of the Solanaceae, Solanaceae. Botany considers the plant a berry bush....
s in Thailand

Thailand

The Kingdom of Thailand is an independent country that lies in the heart of Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Laos and Myanmar, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the west by the Andaman Sea and Myanmar....
and India

India

Cigarette

A cigarette is a product consumed through smoking and manufactured out of curing and finely cut tobacco leaves and reconstituted tobacco, often combined with other List of additives in cigarettes, then rolled or stuffed into a paper-wrapped cylinder ....
s in France

France

France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
and no chocolate

Chocolate

Chocolate comprises a number of raw and processed foods that are produced from the seed of the tropical cacao tree.Chocolate has become one of the most popular flavors in the world....
in Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland is a landlocked Swiss Alps country of roughly 7.7 million people in Western Europe with an area of 41,285 km?. Switzerland is a federal republic consisting of 26 states called Cantons of Switzerland....
. Even the dandelion was brought to America by European

European ethnic groups

The European peoples are the various nations and ethnic groups of Europe. European ethnology is the field of anthropology focusing on Europe....
s for use as an herb

Herb

A herb is a plant that is valued for qualities such as medicinal properties, flavor, scent, or the like....
.

Before regular communication had been established between the two hemispheres, the varieties of domesticated animals and infectious diseases, such as smallpox, were strikingly larger in the Old World than in the New. This led, in part, to the devastating effects of Old World diseases on Native American populations. The smallpox

Smallpox

Smallpox is an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning spotted, or varus, meaning "pimple"....
epidemics probably resulted in the largest death toll for Native Americans. Scarcely any society on earth remained unaffected by this global ecological exchange.

Table of comparison

Pre-Columbian Distribution of Native Organisms with Close Ties to Humans
Type of organism	Old World to New World	New World to Old World
Domesticated animals	* bee * cat Cat The cat , also known as the Domestication cat or house cat to distinguish it from other Felinae and Felidae, is a small predationy carnivore species of crepuscular mammal that is valued by humans for its companionship and its ability to hunt vermin, snakes, scorpions, and other unwanted household pests.... * camel Camel Camels are even-toed ungulates within the genus *Camelus. The dromedary, one-humped or Arabian camel has a single hump and is well known for its healthy low fat milk, and the Bactrian camel has two humps.... chicken Chicken The chicken is a Domestication fowl. Recent evidence suggests that domestication of the chicken was under way in Vietnam over 10,000 years ago.... * cow * dog Dog The dog is a domesticated subspecies of the Gray Wolf, a member of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora. The term is used for both feral and pet varieties.... * goat Goat The domestic goat is a subspecies of goat domesticated from the wild goat of southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the Bovidae family and is closely related to the sheep: both are in the goat-antelope subfamily Caprinae.... * goose Goose *Goose* is the English-language name for a considerable number of birds, belonging to the family Anatidae. This family also includes swans, most of which are larger than geese, and ducks, which are smaller.... * horse Horse The horse is a hoofed mammal, a subspecies of one of seven extant species of the family Equidae. The horse has evolution of the horse over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, odd-toed ungulate animal of today.... * rabbit (domestic) Domestic rabbit A domestic rabbit is any of the several varieties of European rabbit that has been domestic animalMale rabbits are called bucks; females are called does.... * pig Pig Pigs, also called hogs or swine, are a genus of even-toed ungulates within the Family Suidae. The name pig, hog, or swine most commonly refers to the Domestic pig in everyday parlance, but technically encompasses several distinct species, including the Wild Boar.... * rock pigeon Rock Pigeon The Rock Pigeon , or Rock Dove, is a member of the bird family Columbidae . In common usage, this bird is often simply referred to as the "pigeon".... * sheep Sheep #REDIRECT Domestic sheep... * silkworm Bombyx mori The silkworm is the larva or caterpillar of *Bombyx mori* , the domesticated silkmoth. A moth in the family Bombycidae, it is very important economically as the producer of silk.... * water buffalo	* alpaca Alpaca The Alpaca is a Domestication species of South American camelid. It resembles a small llama in superficial appearance.Alpacas are kept in herds that graze on the level heights of the Andes of Ecuador, southern Peru, northern Bolivia, and northern Chile at an altitude of to meters above sea-level, throughout the year.... * dog Dog The dog is a domesticated subspecies of the Gray Wolf, a member of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora. The term is used for both feral and pet varieties.... * guinea pig Guinea pig The guinea pig is a species of rodent belonging to the family Caviidae and the genus Cavia. Despite their common name, these animals are not pigs, nor do they come from Guinea .... * llama Llama The llama is a South American camelid, widely used as a pack animal by the Incas and other natives of the Andes mountains. In South America llamas are still used as beasts of burden, as well as for the production of fiber and meat.... * turkey Turkey (bird) A turkey is either of two Extant taxon of large birds in the genus *Meleagris. One species, Meleagris gallopavo*, commonly known as the Wild Turkey, is native to the forests of North America....
Domesticated plants	* almond Almond The Almond is a species of tree of the genus Prunus, belonging to the subfamily Prunoideae of the family Rosaceae and native to the Middle East.... * apple APPLE This article is about the satellite APPLE. For the fruit apple, see Apple. For other uses see Apple .The Ariane Passenger PayLoad Experiment , was an experimental communication satellite with a C-Band transponder launched by Indian Space Research Organisation satellite on June 19, 1981 by Ariane 1, a launch vehicle of the European Spac... * apricot Apricot The Apricot is a species of Prunus, classified with the plum in the subgenus Prunus. The native range is somewhat uncertain due to its extensive prehistoric cultivation, but most likely in northern and western China and Central Asia, possibly also Korea and Japan.... * artichoke Artichoke A globe artichoke is a partially edible perennial thistle originating in southern Europe around the Mediterranean.Artichoke may also refer to:... * asparagus Asparagus *Asparagus officinalis* is a flowering plant species in the genus Asparagus from which the vegetable known as asparagus is obtained.... * banana Banana File:Banana and cross section.jpgBanana is the common name for a fruit and also the herbaceous plants of the genus Musa which produce this commonly eaten fruit.... * barley Barley Barley is an annual plant cereal grain derived from the grass *Hordeum vulgare. It serves as a major animal feed crop, with smaller amounts used for malting and in health food, as well as the making of alcoholic beverages beer and whisky.... beet Beet The beet is a plant in the Amaranthaceae. It is best known its numerous cultivated varieties, the most well known of which is probably the red root vegetable known as the garden beet.... * black pepper Black pepper Black pepper is a flowering plant vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit, which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning.... * cabbage Cabbage The cabbage is a leafy garden plant of the Family Brassicaceae , used as a Leaf vegetable. It is a herbaceous, biennial plant, dicotyledonous flowering plant distinguished by a short stem upon which is crowded a mass of leaves, usually green but in some varieties red or purplish, forming a characteristic compact, globular cluster .... * cantaloupe Cantaloupe Cantaloupe refers to two varieties of muskmelon , which is a species in the family Cucurbitaceae . Cantaloupes are typically 15?25 cm in length and are somewhat oblong, though not as oblong as watermelons.... * carrot Carrot The carrot is a root vegetable, usually orange or white, or red-white blend in colour, with a crisp texture when fresh. The edible part of a carrot is a taproot.... * coffee Coffee Coffee is a brewed drink prepared from roasted seeds, commonly called coffee beans, of the Coffea. Caffeinated coffee has a stimulating effect in humans.... * cotton Cotton Cotton is a soft, staple fiber that grows in a form known as a boll around the seeds of the cotton plant a shrub native to tropical and subtropical regions around the world, including the Americas, India and Africa.... * citrus Citrus *Citrus* is a common term and genus of flowering plants in the family Rutaceae, originating in tropical and subtropical southeast regions of the world.... * cucumber Cucumber The cucumber is a widely cultivated plant in the gourd family Cucurbitaceae, which includes squash , and in the same genus as the muskmelon.... * eggplant * flax Flax Flax is a member of the genus Linum in the family Linaceae. It is native to the region extending from the eastern Mediterranean region to India and was probably first domesticated in the Fertile Crescent.... * garlic Garlic Allium sativum L., commonly known as garlic, is a species in the onion family Alliaceae. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, and chive.... * hemp Hemp File:Industrialhemp.jpgHemp is the common name for plants of the entire genus Cannabis, although the term is often used to refer only to Cannabis strains cultivated for industrial use.... * kiwifruit Kiwifruit The kiwifruit is the edible berry of a cultivar of the woody plant vine Actinidia deliciosa and Hybrid s between this and other species in the genus Actinidia.... * kola nut Kola nut Kola nut is a genus of about 125 species of trees native to the tropical rainforests of Africa, classified in the family Malvaceae, subfamily Sterculioideae .... * lettuce Lettuce Lettuce is a temperate annual plant or biennial plant of the daisy family Asteraceae. It is most often grown as a leaf vegetable. In many countries, it is typically eaten cold, raw, in salads, hamburgers, tacos, and in many other dishes.... * mango Mango Mangoes belong to the genus *Mangifera, consisting of numerous species of tropical fruiting trees in the flowering plant family Anacardiaceae.... millet Millet The millets are a group of small-seeded species of cereal Crop or grains, widely grown around the world for food and fodder. They do not form a scientific classification group, but rather a functional or agronomic one.... * oat Oat The common oat is a species of Cereal Agriculture for its seed, which is known by the same name . While oats are suitable for human consumption as oatmeal and rolled oats, one of the most common uses is as livestock feed.... * okra Okra Okra , also known as ladyfinger and gumbo, is a flowering plant in the Malvaceae , valued for its edible green fruits. Okra's binomial nomenclature is *Abelmoschus esculentus; it is occasionally referred to by the synonym, Hibiscus esculentus* L.... * olive Olive The Olive is a species of small tree in the family Oleaceae, native to the coastal areas of the eastern Mediterranean region, from Lebanon, Syria and the maritime parts of Turkey and northern Iran at the south end of the Caspian Sea.... * onion Onion Onion is a term used for many plants in the genus Allium. They are known by the common name "onion" but, used without qualifiers, it usually refers to *Allium cepa.... opium Opium Opium is a narcotic formed from the latex released by lacerating the immature seed pods of Opium poppy . It contains up to 12% morphine, an opiate alkaloid, which is most frequently processed chemically to produce heroin for the illegal drug trade.... * peach Peach The peach is known as a species of Prunus native to China that bears an edible juicy fruit also called a peach. It is a deciduous tree growing to 5?10 m tall, belonging to the subfamily Prunoideae of the family Rosaceae.... * pea Pea A pea is most commonly the small spherical seed or the seed-pod of the legume *Pisum sativum. Each pod contains several peas. Although treated as a vegetable in cooking, it is botanically a fruit.... pear Pear The pear is an edible pome fruit produced by a tree of genus Pyrus . The pear is classified within Maloideae, a subfamily within Rosaceae. The apple , which it resembles in floral structure, is also a member of this subfamily.... * pistachio Pistachio The pistachio is a small tree native to mountainous regions of Iran, Turkmenistan, Turkey and western Afghanistan, that produces an important nut #Culinary definition and uses.... * radish Radish The radish is an Eating root vegetable of the Brassicaceae family that was domesticated in Europe in pre-Roman Empire times. They are grown and consumed throughout the world.... * rhubarb Rhubarb *Rheum* is a genus of perennial plants that grows from thick short rhizomes. The genus is in the family Polygonaceae, and includes the vegetable rhubarb The plants have large leaf that are somewhat triangular shaped with long fleshy Petiole s.... * rice Rice Rice is a staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in tropical Latin America, and East Asia, South Asia and Southeast Asia, making it the second-most consumed cereal grain, after maize.... * rye Rye Rye is a Poaceae grown extensively as a grain and forage crop. It is a member of the wheat tribe and is closely related to barley and wheat. Rye grain is used for flour, rye bread, rye beer, some rye whiskey, some vodkas, and animal fodder.... * soybean Soybean The soybean or soya bean is a species of legume native to East Asia. The plant is classed as an oilseed rather than a Pulse . It is an annual plant that has been used in China for 5,000 years as a food and a component of drugs.... * sugarcane Sugarcane Sugarcane is a genus of 6 to 37 species of tall perennial plant Poaceae , native to warm temperate to tropical regions of the Old World. They have stout, jointed, fibrous stalks that are rich in sugar and measure 2 to 6 meters tall.... * taro Taro Taro , more rarely kalo , gabi in The Philippines and dalo in Fiji is a tropical plant grown primarily as a root vegetable for its edible corm, and secondarily as a leaf vegetable.... * tea Tea Tea refers to the agricultural products of the leaves, leaf buds, and internodes of the Camellia sinensis plant, prepared and cured by various methods.... * turnip Turnip The turnip is a root vegetable commonly grown in temperate climates worldwide for its white, bulbous taproot. Small, tender, varieties are grown for human consumption, while larger varieties are grown as fodder for livestock.... * wheat Wheat Wheat , is a worldwide cultivated Poaceae from the Levant region of the Middle East. Globally, after maize, wheat is the second most-produced food among the cereal just above rice.... * walnut * watermelon Watermelon Watermelon refers to both fruit and plant of a vine-like herb originally from southern Africa and one of the most common types of melon. This flowering plant produces a special type of fruit known by botany as a Epigynous berry, which has a thick Peel and fleshy center ; pepos are derived from an inferior ovary and are characteristic of...	* amaranth Amaranth *Amaranthus, collectively known as amaranth* or pigweed, is a cosmopolitan genus of herbs. Approximately 60 species are presently recognized, with inflorescences and foliage ranging from purple and red to gold.... * avocado Avocado The avocado , also known as *palta* or *aguacate* , butter pear or alligator pear, is a tree native to Mexico, South America and Central America, classified in the flowering plant family Lauraceae.... * bean Bean Bean is a common name for large plant seeds of several genus of the Family Fabaceae used for human food or animal feed.The whole young pods of bean plants, if picked before the pods ripen and dry, can be tender enough to eat whole, whether cooked or raw.... * bell pepper Bell pepper Bell pepper is a cultivar group of the species Capsicum annuum. Cultivars of the plant produce fruits in different colors, including red, yellow, green and orange.... * blueberry Blueberry Blueberries are flowering plants in the genus Vaccinium, sect. Cyanococcus. The species are native only to North America. They are shrubs varying in size from 10 cm tall to 4 m tall; the smaller species are known as "lowbush blueberries" , and the larger species as "highbush blueberries".... * cashew Cashew The cashew is a tree in the flowering plant family Anacardiaceae. The plant is native to northeastern Brazil. Its English language name derives from the Portuguese language name for the fruit of the cashew tree, caju, which in turn derives from the indigenous Tupi language name, acaj?.... * chia * chicle Chicle Chicle is the natural gum from Manilkara chicle, which is a tropical evergreen tree native to Central America. The tree ranges from Veracruz in Mexico south to Department of Atl?ntico in Colombia.... * chili pepper Chili pepper Chili pepper is the fruit of the plants from the genus Capsicum, members of the Solanaceae, Solanaceae. Botany considers the plant a berry bush.... * coca Coca Coca is a plant in the family Erythroxylaceae, native to north-western South America. The plant plays a significant role in traditional Andean culture.... * cocoa Cocoa Cocoa is the dried and fully fermented fatty seed of the cacao from which chocolate is made. "Cocoa" can often also refer to the drink commonly known as hot chocolate; Cocoa solids, the dry powder made by grinding cocoa seeds and removing the cocoa butter from the dark, bitter cocoa solids; or it may refer to the combination of both cocoa p... * huckleberry Huckleberry Huckleberry may refer to:Huckleberry plants from the family EricaceaeRed Huckleberry Garden huckleberry ... maize Maize Maize , known as corn in some countries, is a cereal domesticated in Mesoamerica and subsequently spread throughout the American continents.... (corn) * manioc (cassava, yuca) * papaya Papaya The papaya , is the fruit of the plant Carica papaya, in the genus Carica. It is native to the tropics of the Americas, and was cultivated in Mexico several centuries before the emergence of the Mesoamerica.... * peanut Peanut The peanut, or groundnut , is a species in the legume Fabaceae native to South America, Mexico and Central America. It is an annual plant herbaceous plant growing to 30 to 50 cm tall.... * pecan Pecan The Pecan is a species of hickory, native to south-central North America, in the United States from southern Iowa, Illinois and Indiana east to western Kentucky, North Carolina and western Tennessee, south through Georgia , Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas ; and in Mexico from Coahuila south to Jalisco and Veracr... * pineapple Pineapple Pineapple is the common name for an edible tropical plant and also its fruit. It is native to the southern part of Brazil, and Paraguay. This herbaceous plant perennial plant grows to tall with 30 or more trough-shaped and pointed leaves long, surrounding a thick plant stem.... * potato Potato The potato is a starchy, tuberous crop from the perennial plant Solanum tuberosum of the Solanaceae family. The word potato may refer to the plant itself as well.... * pumpkin Pumpkin Pumpkin is a gourd-like Squash of the genus Cucurbita and the family Cucurbitaceae . It is a common name of or can refer to cultivars of any one of the following species: Cucurbita pepo, Cucurbita mixta, Cucurbita maxima, and Cucurbita moschata.... * quinoa Quinoa Quinoa is a species of goosefoot grown as a agriculture primarily for its edible seeds. It is a pseudocereal rather than a true cereal as it is not a Poaceae.... * rubber Rubber Natural rubber is an elastomer?an Elasticity_ hydrocarbon polymer?that was originally derived from a milky colloidal suspension, or latex , found in the sap of some plants.... * squash Squash (fruit) Squashes generally refer to four species of the genus Cucurbita native to Mexico and Central America, also called marrows depending on variety or the nationality of the speaker.... * sunflower Sunflower The sunflower is an annual plant in the family Asteraceae and native to the Americas, with a large flowering head . The stem can grow as high as 3 meters , and the flower head can reach 30 cm in diameter with the "large" seeds.... * sweet potato Sweet potato The 'sweet potato' is a dicotyledonous plant which belongs to the family Convolvulaceae. Amongst the approximately 50 genera and more than 1000 species of this family, only I.... * tobacco Tobacco Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the fresh leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as an organic pesticide, and in the form of nicotine tartrate it is used in some medicines.... * tomato Tomato The Tomato is an herbaceous, usually sprawling plant in the Solanaceae or nightshade family, as are its close cousins Nicotiana, potatoes, aubergine , chilli peppers, and the poisonous Atropa belladonna.... * vanilla Vanilla Vanilla is a flavoring derived from orchids of the genus Vanilla native to Mexico. Etymologically, vanilla derives from the Spanish language word "", little pod....
Infectious diseases	* bubonic plague Bubonic plague Plague is a deadly infectious disease caused by the Enterobacteriaceae Yersinia pestis . Plague is a zoonotic, primarily carried by rodents and spread to humans via fleas.... * chicken pox * cholera Cholera Cholera, sometimes known as Asiatic or epidemic cholera, is an infectious gastroenteritis caused by enterotoxin-producing strains of the bacterium Vibrio cholerae.... * influenza Influenza Influenza, commonly known as the flu, is an infectious disease that affects birds and mammals caused by RNA viruses of the biological family Orthomyxoviridae .... * malaria Malaria Malaria is a Vector -borne infectious disease caused by protozoan parasites. It is widespread in Tropics and subtropical regions, including parts of the Americas, Asia, and Africa.... * measles Measles Measles is a infection of the respiratory system caused by a virus, specifically a paramyxovirus of the genus Morbillivirus. Morbilliviruses, like other paramyxoviruses, are enveloped, single-stranded, negative-sense RNA viruses.... * scarlet fever Scarlet fever Scarlet fever is a disease caused by an exotoxin released by Streptococcus pyogenes. The term Scarlatina may be used interchangeably with Scarlet Fever, though it is commonly used to indicate the less acute form of Scarlet Fever that is often seen since the beginning of the twentieth century.... * sleeping sickness Sleeping sickness Sleeping sickness or human African trypanosomiasis is a parasitic disease of people and animals, caused by protozoa of species *Trypanosoma brucei* and transmitted by the tsetse fly.... * smallpox Smallpox Smallpox is an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning spotted, or varus, meaning "pimple".... * tuberculosis Tuberculosis Tuberculosis is a common and often deadly infectious disease caused by mycobacterium, mainly Mycobacterium tuberculosis . Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect the central nervous system, the lymphatic system, the circulatory system, the genitourinary system, the gastrointestinal system, bones, joints, and even the... (possibly) * typhoid * yellow fever Yellow fever Yellow fever is an acute Virus disease. It is an important cause of hemorrhage illness in many African and South American countries despite existence of an effective vaccine....	* syphilis Syphilis Syphilis is a sexually transmitted disease caused by the spirochete bacterium Treponema pallidum subspecies pallidum. The route of transmission of syphilis is almost always through sexual contact, although there are examples of congenital syphilis via transmission from mother to child in utero.... * yaws Yaws Yaws also P?tasse tropica, thymosis, polypapilloma tropicum, pian or parangi) is a tropical infection of the skin, bones and joints caused by the spirochete bacterium Treponema pallidum pertenue.... * yellow fever Yellow fever Yellow fever is an acute Virus disease. It is an important cause of hemorrhage illness in many African and South American countries despite existence of an effective vaccine....

Unintentional introductions

In addition to the diseases mentioned above, many species of organisms were introduced to new habitats on the other side of the world accidentally or incidentally. These include such animals as brown rat

Brown Rat

The brown rat, common rat, Hanover rat, Norway rat, Norwegian rat, or wharf rat is one of the best known and most common rats....
s, earthworms (apparently absent from parts of the pre-Columbian New World), and zebra mussels. Plants thus introduced include many weeds, such as tumbleweed

Salsola

Salsola is a genus of herbs, subshrubs, shrubs, and small trees in the family Chenopodiaceae, native to Africa, Asia, and Europe. Plants in this genus typically grow on flat, often dry and/or somewhat salinity soils, with some species in saltmarshes....
s, wild oats

Avena fatua

Avena fatua is a species of Poaceae in the Avena. It is known as the common wild oat. This oat is native to Eurasia but it has been introduced species to most of the other temperate regions of the world....
, and kudzu

Kudzu

, Pueraria lobata , is one of about 20 species in the genus Pueraria in the pea family Fabaceae, subfamily Faboideae. It is native to southern Japan and southeast China in eastern Asia....
. Even fungi were transported, such as the one responsible for Dutch elm disease

Dutch elm disease

Dutch elm disease is a fungus disease of elm trees which is spread by the elm bark beetle. Although believed to be originally native to Asia, it has been accidentally introduced into Americas and Europe, where it has devastated native populations of elms which had not had the opportunity to evolve resistance to the disease....
. Some of these species became serious nuisances upon being established. Plants that were introduced to Europe after 1492 are so-called Neophyte

Neophyte

A neophyte is a beginner. In the context of Christianity, the term often refers to a newly ordained priest, a person who recently took a monastic vow, or a new convert to the religion....
s, whereas plants that made it over the sea before that date are called Archaeophyte

Archaeophyte

An archaeophyte is a plant species which is non-native to a geographical region, but which was introduced in "ancient" times, rather than being a modern introduction....
s.

Sources

in the Encyclopedia of Earth by Alfred W. Crosby
Alfred Crosby

Alfred W. Crosby is a historian, professor and author of such books as The Columbian Exchange and Ecological Imperialism: The Biological Expansion of Europe, 900-1900 ....
by Jeremy Adelman, Stephen Aron, Stephen Kotkin, et al.
from Reuters Jan 15, 2008

External links

study guide, analysis, and teaching guide

Columbian Exchange

Examples

Table of comparison

Unintentional introductions

See also

Sources

External links