The Columbian Exchange: Biological and Cultural Consequences of 1492

Crosby Jr., Alfred W., The Columbian Exchange: Biological and Cultural Consequences of 1492 Westport Connecticut: Greenwood, 1972.

From the Foreword, by Otto von Mering:

The reader is taken on an engrossing intellectual voyage through the facts and interpretations of the salient cultural and bio-social consequences of 1492. He will gain a balanced view of the worldwide exchange and sociopolitical sequelae of the protean disease, syphilis, and the major communicable diseases of influenza, smallpox, measles and pneumonia. He can also learn importnat historical answers to the complex connection between the international movement of disease and man, the cumulative transformation of world food supplies and some of the noteworthy changes in world population growth.

Alfred W. Crosby (b. 15 Jan 1931, Boston, Massachusetts) is a historian, professor and author of such books as The Columbian Exchange (1972) and Ecological Imperialism (1986). In these works, he provides biological and geographical explanations for why Europeans were able to succeed with relative ease in what he refers to as the Neo-Europes of Australasia, North America, and southern South America. Recognizing the majority of modern day wealth is located in Europe and the Neo-Europes, Crosby set out to investigate what historical causes are behind the disparity. According to Hal Rothman, a Professor of History at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, Crosby “added biology to the process of human exploration, coming up with explanations for events as diverse as Cortez’s conquest of Mexico and the fall of the Inca empire that made vital use of the physical essence of humanity.”.[1]

See also The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.