Columbian Exchange (College Board AP® US History)

New exports & imports to the Americas

• The Columbian Exchange began with the arrival of Europeans in the Americas

• It led to the exchange of plants, animals, and diseases between the ‘New World’ and the ‘Old World’

• This early exchange of goods and resources:

  • Reshaped economies on both sides of the Atlantic

  • Set the stage for the development of new trade systems

Transatlantic Trade

• The Triangle Trade or Transatlantic Trade took place between the 16th and 19th centuries

• This system of trade exchanged goods, services, and ideas among the Americas, Africa, and Europe

• This trading structure was also used to transport captured African peoples to the Americas to become part of an enslaved labor force

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African Enslaved Labor

• The Portuguese brought captured Africans to the Caribbean and South America after they decimated the Indigenous population

• Many Africans were enslaved in South and Central America

  • A smaller number of Africans were enslaved in North America

• African enslavement expanded to North America 

  • 1619 marks the first recorded instance of Europeans bringing kidnapped Africans over to the Americans

    • The English privateer ship The White Lion brought 20−30 individuals to Port Comfort in Virginia

    • The people were raided for supplies

    • More enslaved Africans arrived in Virginia aboard a second English ship called The Treasurer days later

• The 18^th century was the peak period of transporting captured Africans for use as enslaved labor

• Other trade items included:

  • Europe to the Americas: Livestock such as horses, pigs, and cattle

  • Europe to Africa: Metal, gunpower, iron, tools, and textiles

  • North America to Europe: Sugar, rice, tobacco, cotton, and molasses

Middle Trade or Middle Passage

• The route Europeans used to bring captured Africans from western Africa to the Americas became known as the Middle Trade or Middle Passage

• Between 15-20 percent of the captured Africans did not survive the journey due to:

  • Lack of sanitary conditions that led to disease

  • Infectious diseases such as smallpox and measles

  • Lack of food

  • Accidents

  • Punishment for rebelling against being held captive

Shift from feudalism to capitalism

• Europeans brought the idea of feudalism with them when they arrived in the ‘New World’

• This system of hierarchy meant that common people in society lived and worked on land owned by rich nobles

• The nobles offered military protection to the commoners or peasants who worked the land

• Feudalism disappeared in the ‘New World’ due to:

  • the introduction of new trade markets

  • new opportunities for wealth

  • the creation of new labor systems

• The decline of feudalism led to the rise of the middle/merchant class and the development of new industries 

• As feudalism declined, the system of capitalism was created based on trade, industry, and banking 

• A currency system replaced barter systems