With Columbus’s discovery of and subsequent voyages to America, an unstoppable series of events was put into motion that affected the world forever. Most notably were the geo-political consequences of “discovering” new lands, new peoples and, especially, new sources of wealth. The conflicts that have erupted as a result of these discoveries have been written about countless numbers times by an equally countless number of historians. Lacking from this dialogue, however, has been an on going concerted attempt at examining the biological and cultural consequences of Columbus’s voyages. With the exception of historian Alfred Crosby’s groundbreaking 1971 book, “The Columbian Exchange,” few examples exist in print that examine the exchange between Europe and the Americas of plants, food, animals, and disease. I plan on examining websites that explore the Columbian Exchange, with particular emphasis on those that go beyond Crosby’s work (if they exist). Some sites to be considered are
http://www.nhc.rtp.nc.us/tserve/nattrans/nattrans.htm
http://etep.thomsonlearning.com/module/age_of_exploration/8_columbian.html
http://daphne.palomar.edu/scrout/Default.htm