About this episode
Misha Glenny and guests discuss the cultural and biological exchanges that occurred after Columbus's arrival in the Americas in 1492.
Misha Glenny and guests discuss the exchange of cultures and biology across the Atlantic and Pacific after 1492. That was when Columbus reached the Bahamas, a time when Europe had no potatoes, tomatoes, sunflowers or, arguably, syphilis in its most virulent form; the Americas had no cattle, bananas, sugar cane or smallpox. The lists of what was then exchanged are long and as these flora, fauna and diseases moved between continents, their impact ranged from transformation to devastation. In parts of the Americas, European viruses helped kill over 90 percent of the population. In parts of Europe, Africa and Asia populations boomed on the new American foods. Sheep from Europe grazed fertile land into deserts in some parts of the Americas, while the lowered populations in others led to local reforestation which, arguably, is linked to a particularly cold period in the Little Ice Age. With Rebecca Earle Professor of History at the University of Warwick John Lindo Associate Professor of Anthropology at Emory University And Mark Maslin Professor of Earth System Science at University College London Producer: Simon Tillotson Reading list Steven R. Brechin and Seungyun Lee (ed.), Routledge…
People in this episode
Host: Misha Glenny
Guests: Rebecca Earle, John Lindo, Mark Maslin
Topics covered
- Columbian Exchange
- cultural exchange
- biological exchange
- impact of diseases
- agricultural transformation
- population changes
Keywords
- Columbus
- Americas
- Europe
- diseases
- agriculture
- population
- cattle
- potatoes
- sugar cane
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: University of Warwick, Emory University, University College London
Books & works: Routledge Handbook of Climate Change and Society, In the Shadow of Slavery: Africa’s Botanical Legacy
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