What was the Columbian Exchange and its major effects?

• A. Transfer of crops, animals, and diseases between hemispheres, transforming diets and populations.
• B. The exchange of gold and silver between Europe and Africa.
• C. Trade of only crops between Europe and Asia.
• D. Diplomatic treaties between New World colonies.

Answer: (C)

The Columbian Exchange refers to the broad movement of crops, animals, people, and diseases between the Americas and the Old World after contact in the late 15th century, and it reshaped diets, agriculture, and populations around the globe. Its major effects include new staple crops from the Americas—potatoes, maize, tomatoes, peppers, cacao, and more—that transformed nutrition and supported population growth in Europe, Asia, and Africa; introduction of Old World crops and livestock into the Americas—wheat, rice, sugarcane, horses, cattle, pigs, and chickens—that changed farming, labor, transport, and landscapes; the devastating spread of diseases such as smallpox, measles, and influenza to Indigenous peoples, causing dramatic population declines and enabling easier conquest and colonization; and the creation of a more interconnected global economy with new trade networks, labor systems, and ecological exchanges that reshaped societies on every continent.