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

Колумбов обмен: история болезней, продовольствия и идей
Nathan Nunn, Nancy Qian
2010-05-01

Columbian ExchangeNew World and Old Worlddisease transferfood crop exchangeknowledge transfer
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.
1
Disease exchanges were a major component of the Columbian Exchange and significantly shaped its long-term consequences.
2
Knowledge and ideas moved between the two hemispheres, representing an understudied dimension of the exchange in economic research.
3
The Columbian Exchange initiated long-term transfers of diseases, food crops, technologies, ideas, populations, and cultures between the Americas and the Old World after 1492.
4
The paper emphasizes that the Old World experienced substantial consequences from exchanges of disease, food, and knowledge.
5
The transfer of food crops between the New and Old Worlds produced lasting effects, particularly in the Old World.

The Columbian Exchange (the transatlantic exchange of diseases, food crops, technologies, populations, and cultures between the New World and the Old World after 1492)

the long-term impacts of the transfer of diseases, food crops, and knowledge on the Old World

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2010-05-01
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Nathan Nunn
Nancy Qian
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