Reference no: EM133413222
Assignment:
The Columbian Exchange
we have been exploring the expansion of Western empires into the Americas. While this process increased the economic and military power of these empires, this came at a huge cost to the Indigenous empires of both North and South America. Historians and anthropologists have described the exchange of people, plants, commodities, ideas, technologies and diseases from Eurasia to the Americas in this period as the 'Columbian Exchange'. For Assignment #3, please use our class slides, notes, lectures and readings to address the following questions on the Columbian Exchange. Your final answer should be ONE PAGE in length, single-spaced. A grading rubric can be found below.
1. Was the Columbian Exchange a benefit to the Indigenous peoples of the Americas? Why or why not?
2. Describe how TWO of the following elements of the Columbian Exchange impacted the lives of Europeans, Indigenous Americans and Africans: tobacco, potatoes, sugar cane, Christianity, smallpox, coffee, gold.
3. In addition to your response to question #2, how else did the Columbian Exchange benefit European colonial empires?