modern history

– Times New Roman, 12 pt.
– Double-spaced
– 1” margins (‘normal’ setting on Word)
– Citations/References: APA, MLA, Chicago, and other formats acceptable
Using the course materials and resources specified below, please respond to the following prompts and questions with a well-organized essay of 4-5 pages.
“The Columbian Exchange” is a term that refers to a long historical process. In the recurring section in your book, “How the Past Shapes the Future,” the Columbian Exchange is described as the “global diffusion of plants, food crops, animals, human populations, and disease pathogens that took place after voyages of exploration by Christopher Columbus and other European mariners.” (p. 462) Since indigenous Americans had no immunity to Eurasian diseases, they took a staggering toll: in some cases, as in colonial Mexico, the mortality rate was as high as 90 percent. If epidemic disease had not caused such high mortality among indigenous Americans, in what ways might the history of the Americas in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries (1500s and 1600s) have been different? How did the massive death toll among indigenous Americans relate to the origins of the Atlantic slave trade? Briefly discuss how events and processes that occurred in the Americas played an important but unforeseen role in shaping historical developments in east Asia. Finally, note some ways that the exchange of items as seemingly mundane as new food crops can help shape historical developments over the long term, in both positive and negative ways.

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