Social Sciences and History / Unit 1 SSH 0005 short lesson, about 20 seconds
The Columbian Exchange, in One Line
Captions available
The idea
The Columbian Exchange is the movement of plants, animals and diseases across the Atlantic after fourteen ninety-two. Europeans gained new foods; native peoples met smallpox, which nearly destroyed them.
In practice
Horses west, potatoes east, and a disease with no immunity on one side.
Where people slip
Unit six teaches the exchange fully from the world-history anchor. Here it explains why colonization met so little resistance.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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