Editing Columbian exchange (section)

== Etymology ==

[[File:BRI Columbian Exchange.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|The Columbian exchange of crop plants, livestock, and diseases in both directions between the Old World and the New World]]

In 1972, [[Alfred W. Crosby]], an American historian at the [[University of Texas at Austin]], published the book ''[[The Columbian Exchange]]'',{{sfn|Crosby|1972}} thus coining the term.<ref name="Smithsonian"/> His primary focus was mapping the biological and cultural transfers that occurred between [[Old World|the Old]] and [[New World]]s. He studied the effects of [[Christopher Columbus|Columbus]]'s voyages between the two – specifically, the global diffusion of crops, seeds, and plants from the New World to the Old, which radically transformed [[agriculture]] in both regions.<ref name="Smithsonian">{{cite web |last=Gambino |first=Megan |title=Alfred W. Crosby on the Columbian Exchange |work=[[Smithsonian Magazine]] |date=October 4, 2011  |url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/alfred-w-crosby-on-the-columbian-exchange-98116477/?no-ist |access-date=October 19, 2018}}</ref><ref name="Harvard University Press"/>

His research made a lasting contribution to the way scholars understand the variety of contemporary ecosystems that arose due to these transfers.<ref name="Harvard University Press">{{cite book |last1=Carney |first1=Judith |title=Black Rice: The African Origins of Rice Cultivation in the Americas |url=https://archive.org/details/blackriceafrican00carn |url-access=registration |date=2001 |publisher=Harvard University Press |location=United States of America |pages=[https://archive.org/details/blackriceafrican00carn/page/4 4–5]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=de Vorsey |first=Louis |editor1-last=McIlwraith |editor1-first=Thomas F. |editor2-last=Muller |editor2-first=Edward K. |title=North America: The Historical Geography of a Changing Continent |year=2001 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |location=Lanham, MD |page=27 |quote=Thanks to…Crosby's work, the term 'Columbian exchange' is now widely used… |chapter=The Tragedy of the Columbian Exchange}}</ref> His 1986 book ''[[Ecological Imperialism (book)|Ecological Imperialism]]'' presented further research in the field.{{sfn|Crosby|2004}}