The Columbian Exchange: A History of Disease, Food, and Ideas

This paper provides an overview of the long-term impacts of the Columbian Exchange—that is, the exchange of diseases, ideas, food crops, technologies, populations, and cultures between the New World and the Old World after Christopher Columbus' voyage to the Americas in 1492. We focus on the as...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Journal of economic perspectives Vol. 24; no. 2; pp. 163 - 188
Main Authors Nunn, Nathan, Qian, Nancy
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Nashville American Economic Association 01.04.2010
Subjects
14th century
19th century
Cacao
Cholera
Colonialism
Corn
Crop diseases
Crops
Disease transmission
Economic analysis
Economic development
Economic history
Economic impact
Epidemiology
Food
Food crops
Food economics
Food history
Laboratories
Malaria
Measles
Native North Americans
Potatoes
Rubber
Smallpox
Studies
Syphilis
Tomatoes
Transfers
Tropical diseases
Typhus
British Columbia Canada
Canada
United States > US
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Summary:This paper provides an overview of the long-term impacts of the Columbian Exchange—that is, the exchange of diseases, ideas, food crops, technologies, populations, and cultures between the New World and the Old World after Christopher Columbus' voyage to the Americas in 1492. We focus on the aspects of the exchange that have been most neglected by economic studies; namely the transfer of diseases, food crops, and knowledge between the two Worlds. We pay particular attention to the effects of the exchange on the Old World.
ISSN:0895-3309
1944-7965
DOI:10.1257/jep.24.2.163