UNIT+3+-+ECOSYSTEM+IN+DISTRESS+(BACKLASH)


 * Describe the impact the Exchange had on the the ecosystem, specifically exchange of goods, animals and disease
 * Explain that new discoveries led to worldwide change, specifically disease

Overview:

 * Changes in European Society-** The economic changes that swept through much of Europe during the age of American colonization also led to changes in European society. The Commercial Revolution spurred the growth of towns and the rise of the merchant class. Merchants—because they controlled great wealth—rose in status. The changes in European society, however, only went so far. While towns and cities grew in size, much of Europe’s population continued to live in rural areas. And although merchants and traders enjoyed a period of social mobility, a majority of Europeans remained poor. More than anything else, the Commercial Revolution increased the wealth of European nations.

__**Ecological Effects of the Columbian Exchange**__

The ecological effects of the Columbian Exchange were dramatic, and—in ways entirely unforeseen and misunderstood by both Europeans and Indians at the time—they systematically favored the peoples of the Old World in their encounters with Native Americans. 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, in part because many migrated west or were brought by traders from Asia, so diseases of two continents were suffered by all. "Old World" diseases had a devastating impact on Native American populations because they had no natural immunity to the new diseases.While Europeans and Asians were affected by them, their endemic status in those areas caused some people to build immunity. The [|smallpox] epidemics probably resulted in the largest death tolls for Native Americans.

One result of the Columbian Exchange was the transfer of germs from Europe to the Americas. When Europeans came to America, they brought with them germs that caused diseases such as smallpox, measles, and influenza. Native Americans had no immunity to them.

Although exact numbers are unknown, historians estimate that diseases brought by Europeans killed more than 20 million Native Americans in Mexico in the first century after conquest. Many scholars agree that the population of Native Americans in Central America decreased by 90 to 95 percent between the years 1519 and 1619. The result was similar in Peru and other parts of the Americas. A Spanish missionary in Mexico described the effects of smallpox on the Aztecs.


 * A VOICE FROM THE PAST:**


 * //There was a great havoc. Very many died of it. They could not walk. . . . They could not move; they could not stir; they could not change position, nor lie on one side; nor face down, nor on their backs. And if they stirred, much did they cry out. Great was its destruction.//**

-Bernardino de Sahagún, quoted in Seeds of Change

Read the [|Columbian Exchange] by Alfred Crosby (20 minutes)
 * 1) Write a short response about the how Native Americas were treated by the Europeans
 * 2) Write a short response on how do you think disease had an impact on the New World

Test your knowledge - Quiz -(you should allow 20 minutes for the quiz) []
 * Assessment**

For the next fifteen minutes, free write your final thoughts on the the great exploration to the New World. Were you surprised about the origins of ingredients? Did Columbus have an impact on your diet? How? What impressions were left upon you about the balance of trade and the devastation of disease and death from the Columbian Exchange.
 * Final Reflection** (15 minutes)

...Origins: Foods and Animals