Editing Columbian exchange (section)

== Biological exchanges ==

=== Of plants ===

{{See also|New World crops|Agriculture in Mesoamerica}}

[[File:The Florentine Codex- Maize.tif|thumb|left|upright|The 16th century [[Florentine Codex]] by the Spanish friar [[Bernardino de Sahagún]] provided an early depiction of [[maize]], one of the plants the Spanish brought to the Old World.]]

Because of the new trading resulting from the Columbian exchange, several plants native to the Americas spread around the world, including [[potato]]es, [[maize]], [[tomato]]es, and [[tobacco]].<ref name="ley196512">{{Cite magazine |last=Ley |first=Willy |date=December 1965 |title=The Healthfull Aromatick Herbe |department=For Your Information |magazine=Galaxy Science Fiction |pages=88–98}}</ref> Before 1500, potatoes were not grown outside of [[South America]]. By the 18th century, they were cultivated and consumed widely in Europe and had become important crops in both [[India]] and North America. Potatoes eventually became an important staple food in the diets of many Europeans, contributing to an estimated 12 to 25% of the population growth in Afro-Eurasia between 1700 and 1900.<ref name="Nunn Qian 2011">{{Cite journal |last1=Nunn |first1=Nathan |last2=Qian |first2=Nancy |date=2011 |title=The Potato's Contribution to Population and Urbanization: Evidence from a Historical Experiment |journal=[[Quarterly Journal of Economics]] |volume=126 |issue=2 |pages=593–650 |doi=10.1093/qje/qjr009 |pmid=22073408 |hdl=10.1093/qje/qjr009 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> The introduction of the potato to the Old World accounts for 47 percent of the increase in urbanization between 1700 and 1900.<ref name="Nunn Qian 2010">{{harvnb|Nunn|Qian|2010}}</ref> [[Cassava]] was introduced from South America by the [[Portuguese people|Portuguese]] in the 16th century,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/suprtubr.htm |title=Super-Sized Cassava Plants May Help Fight Hunger In Africa |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131208143623/http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/suprtubr.htm |archive-date=December 8, 2013 |publisher=[[Ohio State University]]}}</ref> and gradually replaced [[sorghum]] and [[millet]] as Africa's most important food crop.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://scitizen.com/biotechnology/maize-streak-virus-resistant-transgenic-maize-an-african-solution-to-an-african-problem_a-28-925.html |title=Maize Streak Virus-Resistant Transgenic Maize: an African solution to an African Problem |website=Scitizen |date=August 7, 2007}}</ref> [[Spanish colonization of the Americas|Spanish colonizers]] of the 16th century introduced new staple crops to Asia from the Americas, including [[maize]] and [[sweet potato]]es, contributing to population growth there.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/special/china_1950_population.htm |title=China's Population: Readings and Maps |publisher=[[Columbia University]], East Asian Curriculum Project |date=24 September 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090924212813/http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/special/china_1950_population.htm |archive-date=September 24, 2009 }}</ref> On a larger scale, the introduction of potatoes and maize to the Old World improved people's nutrition throughout the Eurasian landmass,<ref name="Nunn Qian 2010"/> enabling more varied and abundant food production.{{sfn|Crosby|2003|p=177}} Cassava and maize can have negative consequences when overused (for example, the nutritional diseases [[pellagra]] and [[konzo]]).<ref name="Nunn Qian 2010"/>

The discovery of the Americas provided the Old World with new arable landscapes suitable for growing [[sugarcane]] and [[coffee]].<ref name="Nunn Qian 2010"/> Coffee, introduced in the Americas circa 1720 from Africa and the Middle East, and sugarcane, introduced from the [[Indian subcontinent]] to the [[Spanish West Indies]], subsequently became the primary commodity crops and exported goods of extensive [[Latin America]]n plantations. Introduced to India by the Portuguese, [[chili pepper]]s and potatoes from South America in turn became integral parts of [[Indian cuisine]], and starting the process of making [[curry]] an international dish.<ref name="Collingham 2006">{{cite book |last=Collingham |first=Lizzie |author-link=Lizzie Collingham |title=Curry: A Tale of Cooks and Conquerors |url=https://archive.org/details/curry00lizz |url-access=registration |year=2006 |chapter=Vindaloo: the Portuguese and the chili pepper |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-988381-3 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/curry00lizz/page/47 47–73]}}</ref>

Because crops traveled widely but at least initially their endemic fungi did not, for a limited time yields were somewhat higher in the new regions to which they were introduced, a form of [[ecological release]] or "{{visible anchor|yield honeymoon}}". However, the exchange of pathogens has continued alongside globalization, and crops have declined back toward their endemic yields.<ref name="Drenth Guest 2016">{{cite journal |last1=Drenth |first1=André |last2=Guest |first2=David I. |title=Fungal and Oomycete Diseases of Tropical Tree Fruit Crops |journal=[[Annual Review of Phytopathology]] |publisher=[[Annual Reviews (publisher)|Annual Reviews]] |volume=54 |issue=1 |date=2016-08-04 |doi=10.1146/annurev-phyto-080615-095944 |pages=373–395|pmid=27491435 }}</ref>

[[File:Intikawan Amantani.jpg|thumb|[[Andén|Andenes]] terraces on [[Taquile]] are used to grow traditional [[Andes|Andean]] [[Staple food|staples]] such as [[quinoa]] and [[potato]]es, alongside [[wheat]]—a European introduction.]]

The Spanish were the first Europeans to grow [[Theobroma cacao|cacao]], in 1590. Though cacao was usually consumed by European populations in the form of sweets and was at first treated as an expensive luxury item, [[chocolate]] helped with fatigue and provided energy. As for [[vanilla]], the pods of the plant after chemical treatment acquired an aroma, which was then used both in cooking and in perfumery.<ref name="Nunn Qian 2010"/>

{{vertical align rows}}
{| class="wikitable floatleft vertical-align-top"
|+ Post-Columbian transfers of cultivated plants
|- 
! Old World to New World
! New World to Old World
|-
|
* [[almond]]<ref name="Mintz McNeil 2018 plants"/>
* [[apple]]<ref name="Mintz McNeil 2018 plants">{{cite web |last1=Mintz |first1=S. |last2=McNeil |first2=S. |title=Origins of Plants |url=https://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/active_learning/explorations/columbus/columbian_answers_plants.cfm |publisher=University of Houston |access-date=15 July 2024 |date=2018}}</ref>
* [[cabbage]] (many varieties)<ref name="Crosby 2001"/>
* [[citrus]] ([[Orange (fruit)|orange]], [[lemon]], etc.)<ref name="Mintz McNeil 2018 plants"/>
* [[coffee]]<ref name="Mintz McNeil 2018 plants"/>
* [[lettuce]]<ref name="Crosby 2001"/>
* [[melon]]<ref name="Mintz McNeil 2018 plants"/>
* [[oat]]<ref name="Crosby 2001"/>
* [[olive]]<ref name="Mintz McNeil 2018 plants"/>
* [[onion]]<ref name="Crosby 2001"/>
* [[peach]]<ref name="Crosby 2001"/>
* [[pear]]<ref name="Crosby 2001"/>
* [[radish]]<ref name="Mintz McNeil 2018 plants"/>
* [[rice]]<ref name="Crosby 2001"/>
* [[rye]]<ref name="Crosby 2001"/>
* [[sorghum]]<ref name="Mintz McNeil 2018 plants"/>
* [[soybean]]<ref name="Mintz McNeil 2018 plants"/>
* [[sugarcane]] and [[sugar beet]]<ref name="Crosby 2001"/>
* [[turnip]]<ref name="Crosby 2001"/>
* [[wheat]]<ref name="Crosby 2001"/>
|
* [[avocado]]<ref name="Crosby 2001">{{harvnb|Crosby|2001}}</ref>
* [[cassava]] (manioc, tapioca)<ref name="Crosby 2001"/>
* [[chili pepper]]<ref name="Collingham 2006"/>
* [[cocoa bean]] (cacao)<ref name="Mintz McNeil 2018 plants"/> 
* [[cotton]]<ref name="Mintz McNeil 2018 plants"/> (long-staple species)
* [[cranberry]] ([[cranberry#Species and description|bearberry]] species)
* [[guava]]<ref name="Mintz McNeil 2018 plants"/> (common)
* [[maize]] (corn)<ref>{{cite book |last=Earle |first=Rebecca |author-link=Rebecca Earle |title=The Body of the Conquistador: Food, Race, and the Colonial Experience in Spanish America, 1492–1700 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |year=2012 |pages=17, 144, 151}}</ref>
* [[papaya]]<ref name="Crosby 2001"/>
* [[peanut]]<ref name="Mintz McNeil 2018 plants"/>
* [[pineapple]]<ref name="Crosby 2001"/>
* [[potato]]<ref name="Crosby 2001"/>
* [[cucurbita|squashes]], including [[pumpkin]]<ref name="Crosby 2001"/>
* [[sunflower]]<ref name="Crosby 2001"/>
* [[sweet potato]]<ref name="Crosby 2001"/>
* [[tobacco]]<ref name="Crosby 2001"/>
* [[tomato]]<ref name="Crosby 2001"/>
|}

[[Rice]], originally domesticated in China, became widely planted in the New World; European planters there relied upon the skills of African slaves to cultivate it.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Carney |first=Judith A. |date=2001 |title=African Rice in the Columbian Exchange |jstor=3647168 |journal=The Journal of African History |volume=42 |issue=3 |pages=377–396 |doi=10.1017/s0021853701007940 |pmid=18551802 |s2cid=37074402}}</ref> [[Province of Georgia|Georgia]], [[Province of South Carolina|South Carolina]], [[Captaincy General of Cuba|Cuba]], and [[Puerto Rico]] were major centers of rice production during the [[Colonial history of the United States|colonial era]]. Enslaved Africans brought their knowledge of water control, milling, [[winnowing]], and other agrarian practices to the fields. This widespread knowledge among African slaves eventually made rice a staple food in the New World.<ref name="Harvard University Press"/><ref>{{cite book |first=Seaman Ashahel |last=Knapp |title=Rice culture in the United States |url=https://archive.org/details/CAT87201521 |edition=Public domain |year=1900 |publisher=U.S. Department of Agriculture |pages=[https://archive.org/details/CAT87201521/page/n6 6]–}}</ref>

[[Citrus fruit]]s and [[grape]]s were brought to the Americas from the Mediterranean. At first, planters struggled to adapt these crops to New World climates, but by the late 19th century they were cultivated more consistently.<ref>{{cite web |last=McNeill |first=J.R. |title=The Columbian Exchange |url=https://www.ncpedia.org/anchor/columbian-exchange |website=[[NCpedia]] |publisher=[[State Library of North Carolina]] |access-date=23 October 2018}}</ref> [[Banana]]s were introduced into the Americas in the 16th century by Portuguese sailors, who brought them from West Africa. Despite this early introduction, they were little consumed in the Americas as late as the 1880s, when large plantations were established in the Caribbean.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Gibson |first1=Arthur |title=Bananas & Plantains |url=http://www.botgard.ucla.edu/html/botanytextbooks/economicbotany/Musa/index.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120614121141/http://www.botgard.ucla.edu/html/botanytextbooks/economicbotany/Musa/index.html |archive-date=June 14, 2012 |url-status=dead |publisher=[[University of California, Los Angeles]]}}</ref> The [[Manila galleon]] trading network introduced American plants such as [[chayote]] and [[papaya]] into Southeast Asia; these were incorporated into the cuisines there.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Amano |first1=Noel |last2=Bankoff |first2=Greg |last3=Findley |first3=David Max |last4=Barretto-Tesoro |first4=Grace |last5=Roberts |first5=Patrick |title=Archaeological and historical insights into the ecological impacts of pre-colonial and colonial introductions into the Philippine Archipelago |journal=The Holocene |date=February 2021 |volume=31 |issue=2 |pages=313–330 |doi=10.1177/0959683620941152|bibcode=2021Holoc..31..313A |hdl=21.11116/0000-0006-CB04-1 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

Long before the arrival of the Spaniards, cultivators brought wild [[tomato]]es from Central America to South America.<ref name="Nunn Qian 2010"/> Soon after Columbus's visit, tomatoes were brought to Spain, and from there to other European countries, including Italy. In 1544, [[Pietro Andrea Mattioli]], a [[Grand Duchy of Tuscany|Tuscan]] physician and botanist, wrote that the tomato was eaten fried in oil there.<ref>{{cite journal|last=McCue |first=George Allen |title=The History of the Use of the Tomato: An Annotated Bibliography |journal= Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden |year=1952 |volume= 39 |issue=4 |pages=291–292 |doi=10.2307/2399094 |jstor=2399094 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/20101657}}</ref> The first Italian cookbook to include tomato sauce, ''Lo Scalco alla Moderna'' ("The Modern Steward"), was written by Italian chef [[Antonio Latini]] and was published in two volumes in 1692 and 1694. In 1790, the use of tomato sauce with pasta appeared for the first time, in the Italian cookbook ''L'Apicio Moderno'' ("The Modern [[Apicius]]"), by chef [[Francesco Leonardi (chef)|Francesco Leonardi]].<ref name=leo>''L'Arte della cucina in Italia'', Emilio Faccioli, Einaudi, Milano, 1987</ref>

Alongside the intentional introductions of cultivated plants that were Crosby's focus,<ref>{{cite journal |last=Sauer |first=Jonathan D. |title=[Review:] The Columbian Exchange: Biological and Cultural Consequences of 1492 |journal=Economic Botany |year=1973 |volume=27 |issue=3 |pages=348–349 |jstor=4253437}}</ref> many wild plants including [[Weed of cultivation|weeds of cultivation]], such as [[dandelion]]s and [[grass]]es,<ref>{{cite web |title=The Columbian Exchange |url=https://americainclass.org/the-columbian-exchange/ |publisher=National Humanities center |access-date=3 December 2024 |date=2015}}</ref> were transferred in both directions, permanently affecting the ecology of many parts of the world.<ref name="Hancock 2023">{{cite journal |last=Hancock |first=James F. |title=Fifty Years Later—The Legacy of Alfred Crosby’s “The Columbian Exchange: Biological and Cultural Consequences of 1492” |journal=Economic Botany |volume=77 |issue=1 |date=2023 |doi=10.1007/s12231-022-09563-6 |doi-access=free |pages=82–102}}</ref>{{Clear}}

=== Of animals ===

Initially, the Columbian exchange of animals largely went in one direction, from Europe to the New World, as the Eurasian regions had domesticated many more animals. [[Horse]]s, [[donkeys]], [[mule]]s, [[pigs]], [[cattle]], [[sheep]], [[goats]], [[chickens]], [[dogs]], [[cats]], and [[bees]] were rapidly adopted by native peoples for transport, food, and other uses. The [[Plains Indians#Horses|Plains Indians]], for example, made extensive use of horses for hunting.<ref name="Francis 2006">{{cite encyclopedia |editor-last=Francis |editor-first=John Michael |editor1-link=J. Michael Francis |encyclopedia=Iberia and the Americas: Culture, Politics, and History: a Multidisciplinary Encyclopedia |title=Columbian Exchange—Livestock |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OMNoS-g1h8cC&pg=PA303 |year=2006 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-85109-421-9 |pages=303–308}}</ref>

<gallery class=center mode=nolines widths=225 heights=225>
File:The Florentine Codex- The Conquest of Mexico.png|[[Spanish conquest of Mexico]], 1519–1521, with [[horse]]s, [[pig]]s, [[cattle]], and [[sheep]] being landed from ships. [[Florentine Codex]]. 
File:George Catlin - Buffalo hunt.jpg|Native Americans learned to use horses, dramatically expanding their hunting range.<ref name="Francis 2006"/> [[George Catlin]], 1844
</gallery>

{{vertical align rows}}
{| class="wikitable floatleft vertical-align-top"
|+ Post-Columbian transfers of domestic animals
|- 
! Old World to New World
! New World to Old World
|-
|
* [[cattle]]<ref name="Crosby 2001"/> 
* [[chicken]]<ref name="Crosby 2001"/>
* large [[dog]]<ref name="Crosby 2001"/>
* [[donkey]]<ref name="Crosby 2001"/>
* [[Domestic duck|duck]] (domesticated mallard)<ref name="Hou et al 2011">{{cite journal |last1=Hou |first1=Z.-C. |last2=Yang |first2=F.-X. |last3=Qu |first3=L.-J. |last4=Zheng |first4=J.-X. |last5=Brun |first5=J.-M. |last6=Basso |first6=B. |last7=Pitel |first7=F. |last8=Yang |first8=N. |last9=Xu |first9=G.-Y. |title=Genetic structure of Eurasian and North American mallard ducks based on mtDNA data |journal=Animal Genetics |publisher=Wiley |volume=43 |issue=3 |date=23 September 2011 |doi=10.1111/j.1365-2052.2011.02248.x |pages=352–355|pmid=22486512 }}</ref>
* [[goat]]<ref name="Crosby 2001"/> 
* [[horse]]<ref name="Crosby 2001"/> 
* [[pig]]<ref name="Crosby 2001"/>
* [[sheep]]<ref name="Crosby 2001"/>
|
* [[Turkey (bird)|turkey]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sciencealert.com/humans-weren-t-always-after-turkey-meat |title=Study Shows That Humans Domesticated Turkeys For Worshipping, Not Eating |first=David |last=Nield |website=sciencealert.com |date=18 January 2018 |access-date=21 January 2018 |archive-date=22 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210422172943/https://www.sciencealert.com/humans-weren-t-always-after-turkey-meat|url-status=live}}</ref>
* [[Muscovy duck]]<ref name="b761">{{cite book |last=Stahl |first=Peter W. |chapter=Animal Domestication in South America |editor1-last=Silverman |editor1-first=Helaine |editor2-last=Isbell |editor2-first=William |title=Handbook of South American Archaeology |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |publication-place=New York |date=2008-04-06 |isbn=978-0-387-74907-5 |pages=121–130 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/226307839}}</ref>
|}

While mesoamerican peoples, Mayas in particular, already practiced [[apiculture]],{{Sfn|Valadez Azúa|2004|p=5}} producing [[wax]] and [[honey]] from a variety of bees, such as ''[[Melipona]]'' or ''[[Trigona]]'',{{Sfn|Valadez Azúa|2004|pp=6–7}} European bees (''[[Apis mellifera]]'')—were more productive, delivering a honey with less water content and allowing for easier extraction from beehives—were introduced in New Spain, becoming an important part of farming production.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Valadez Azúa |first=Raúl |title=Retomando la apicultura del México antiguo |year=2004 |journal=Veterinaria |volume=4 |issue=2 |page=11 |publisher=[[Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México]] |url=https://fmvz.unam.mx/fmvz/imavet/v4n2a04/v4n2a04.pdf}}</ref>

The [[Mapuche]] of [[Araucanía (historic region)|Araucanía]] were fast to adopt the horse from the Spanish, and improve their military capabilities as they fought the [[Arauco War]] against Spanish colonizers.<ref name=DilleMaterial2014>{{cite book |last=Dillehay |first=Tom D. |date=2014|editor-last=Dillehay |editor-first=Tom |title=The Teleoscopic Polity |chapter=Archaeological Material Manifestations |publisher=Springer |pages=101–121 |isbn=978-3-319-03128-6 |author-link=Tom Dillehay }}</ref><ref name=BengoaAntiguo250-251>{{cite book |last=Bengoa |first=José |author-link=José Bengoa|title=Historia de los antiguos mapuches del sur |year=2003 |publisher=Catalonia |location=Santiago |isbn=978-956-8303-02-0 |language=es|pages=250–251}}</ref> Until the arrival of the Spanish, the Mapuches had largely maintained [[chilihueques]] ([[llamas]]) as livestock. The Spanish introduction of sheep caused some competition between the two domesticated species. Anecdotal evidence of the mid-17th century shows that by then sheep far outnumbered llamas. The decline of llamas reached a point in the late 18th century when only the Mapuche from [[San José de la Mariquina|Mariquina]] and the Huequén next to [[Angol]] raised the species.<ref name=Torrejonetal2004>{{cite journal |last1=Torrejón |first1=Fernando |last2=Cisternas |first2=Marco |last3=Araneda |first3=Alberto |date=2004 |title=Efectos ambientales de la colonización española desde el río Maullín al archipiélago de Chiloé, sur de Chile |language=es |trans-title=Environmental effects of the Spanish colonization from de Maullín river to the Chiloé archipelago, southern Chile |url=http://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?pid=S0716-078X2004000400009&script=sci_arttext&tlng=en |journal=[[Revista Chilena de Historia Natural]] |volume=77 |issue= 4 |pages=661–677 |doi=10.4067/s0716-078x2004000400009|doi-access=free }}</ref> In the [[Chiloé Archipelago]] the introduction of [[pig]]s by the Spanish proved a success. They could feed on the abundant [[shellfish]] and [[algae]] exposed by the large [[tide]]s.<ref name=Torrejonetal2004/>

In the other direction, the [[turkey (bird)|turkey]], from North America, and the [[Muscovy duck]], from Mexico and South America, were New World domestic animals transferred to Europe.{{sfn|Crosby|1972|p=212}}{{Clear}}

=== Of diseases ===

{{further|Native American disease and epidemics|Influx of disease in the Caribbean|Virgin soil epidemic|Cocoliztli epidemics}}

[[File:400Behandlung der Syphilis.jpg|thumb|left|upright|An early Old World medical illustration of people with [[syphilis]], [[Vienna]], 1498]]

The first manifestation of the Columbian exchange may have been the spread of [[syphilis]] from the native people of the [[Caribbean Sea]] to Europe. The [[history of syphilis]] has been well-studied, but the origin of the disease remains a subject of debate.<ref name=Kent08>{{cite journal |last1=Kent |first1=M.E. |last2=Romanelli |first2=F. |title=Reexamining syphilis: an update on epidemiology, clinical manifestations, and management |journal=Annals of Pharmacotherapy |volume=42 |issue=2 |pages=226–236 |date=February 2008 |pmid=18212261 |doi=10.1345/aph.1K086 |s2cid=23899851 }}</ref> There are two primary hypotheses: one proposes that syphilis was carried to Europe from the [[Americas]] by the crew of Christopher Columbus in the early 1490s, while the other proposes that syphilis previously existed in Europe but went unrecognized.<ref name=Orgin10>{{cite journal |last1=Farhi |first1=D. |last2=Dupin |first2=N. |title=Origins of syphilis and management in the immunocompetent patient: facts and controversies |journal=Clinics in Dermatology |date=Sep–Oct 2010 |volume=28 |issue=5 |pages=533–558 |pmid=20797514 |doi=10.1016/j.clindermatol.2010.03.011}}</ref> The first written descriptions of syphilis in the Old World came in 1493.<ref name="quartz">{{cite news |last=Smith |first=Tara C. |title=Thanks Columbus! The true story of how syphilis spread to Europe |quote=The first cases of the disease in the Old World were described in 1493. |url=http://qz.com/580139/thanks-columbus-the-true-story-of-how-syphilis-spread-to-europe/ |access-date=1 September 2016 |work=Quartz |date=December 23, 2015}}</ref> The first large outbreak of syphilis in Europe occurred in 1494–1495 among the army of [[Charles VIII of France|Charles VIII]] during its [[Italian War of 1494–1495|invasion of Naples]].<ref name="Orgin10"/><ref name=Music08>{{cite journal |last=Franzen |first=C. |title=Syphilis in composers and musicians—Mozart, Beethoven, Paganini, Schubert, Schumann, Smetana |journal=[[European Journal of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases]] |date=December 2008 |volume=27 |issue=12 |pages=1151–1157 |pmid=18592279 |doi=10.1007/s10096-008-0571-x |s2cid=947291 }}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |last=Romm |first=Cari |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2016/02/the-neverending-story-of-the-origins-of-syphilis/463401/ |title=A New Skeleton and an Old Debate About Syphilis |magazine=[[The Atlantic]] |date=February 18, 2016}}</ref><ref name="sciame">{{cite magazine |last=Choi |first=Charles Q.| title=Case Closed? Columbus Introduced Syphilis to Europe |url=http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/case-closed-columbus/ |access-date=1 September 2016 |magazine=[[Scientific American]] |date=December 27, 2011}}</ref> Many of the crew members who had served with Columbus had joined this army. After the victory, Charles's largely mercenary army returned to their respective homes, spreading "the Great Pox" across Europe, which killed up to five million people.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/study-traces-origins-of-syphilis-in-europe-to-new-world-1.717866 |title=Study traces origins of syphilis in Europe to New World |access-date=15 January 2008 |last=CBC News Staff |date=January 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080607124901/http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2008/01/14/syphilis-columbus.html |archive-date=7 June 2008 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Harper |first=Kristin |title=On the Origin of the Treponematoses: A Phylogenetic Approach |journal=PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases |date=January 2008 |volume=2 |issue=1 |page=e148 |doi=10.1371/journal.pntd.0000148 |pmid=18235852 |pmc=2217670 |display-authors=etal |doi-access=free }}</ref>

The Columbian exchange of diseases towards the New World was far deadlier.{{sfn|Nunn|Qian|2010|page=165}} The peoples of the Americas had previously had no exposure to Old World diseases and little or no immunity to them.{{sfn|Nunn|Qian|2010|page=165}} An epidemic of [[swine influenza]] beginning in 1493 killed many of the [[Taino]] people inhabiting [[Caribbean Sea|Caribbean]] islands. The pre-contact population of the island of [[Hispaniola]] was probably at least 500,000, but by 1526, fewer than 500 were still alive. Spanish exploitation was part of the cause of the near-extinction of the native people.{{sfn|Mann|2011|pages=11–12, 414}}[[File:Aztec smallpox victims.jpg|thumb|Sixteenth-century [[Aztec]] drawings of victims of [[smallpox]]. [[Florentine Codex]] ]]

In 1518, [[smallpox]] was first recorded in the Americas and became the deadliest imported Old World disease. Forty percent of the 200,000 people living in the [[Aztec]] capital of [[Tenochtitlan]], later [[Mexico City]], are estimated to have died of smallpox in 1520 during the war of the Aztecs with conquistador [[Hernán Cortés]].<ref name="Gunderman">{{cite web |last=Gunderman |first=Richard |title=How smallpox devastated the Aztecs – and helped Spain conquer an American civilization 500 years ago |url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/how-smallpox-devastated-the-aztecs-and-helped-spain-conquer-an-american-civilization-500-years-ago |website=PBS |date=February 23, 2019 |access-date=15 July 2021}}</ref> Epidemics, possibly of smallpox, spread from [[Central America]], devastated the population of the [[Inca Empire]] a few years before the arrival of the Spanish.<ref name="D'Altroy">{{cite book |last=D'Altroy |first=Terence N. |title=The Incas |date=2003 |publisher=Blackwell Publishing |location=Malden, Massachusetts |isbn=978-0631176770 |page=76}}</ref> [[Native American disease and epidemics|The ravages of Old World diseases]] and Spanish exploitation reduced the [[Mexican people|Mexican]] population from an estimated 20 million to barely more than a million in the 16th century.<ref name="Library of Congress">{{cite book |last1=Merrill |first1=Tim L. |last2=Miro |first2=Ramon |title=Mexico: A Country Study |date=1996 |publisher=Library of Congress |location=Washington, D.C. |url=http://countrystudies.us/mexico/53.htm}}</ref>

{{vertical align rows}}
{| class="wikitable floatleft vertical-align-top"
|+ Post-Columbian transfers of diseases
|- 
! Old World to New World
! New World to Old World
|-
|
* [[bubonic plague]]<ref name="Crosby 2001"/>
* [[chickenpox]]<ref name="Martin Goodman 2002"/>
* [[cholera]]<ref name="Crosby 2001"/>
* [[diphtheria]]<ref name="Martin Goodman 2002"/>
* [[influenza]]<ref name="Martin Goodman 2002"/>
* [[leprosy]]<ref name="Martin Goodman 2002"/>
* [[malaria]]<ref name="Crosby 2001"/>
* [[measles]]<ref name="Crosby 2001"/>
* [[mumps]]<ref name="Martin Goodman 2002">{{cite journal |last1=Martin |first1=D. L. |last2=Goodman |first2=A. H. |title=Health conditions before Columbus: paleopathology of native North Americans |date=2002 |journal=Western Journal of Medicine |volume=176 |issue=1 |pages=65–68 |doi=10.1136/ewjm.176.1.65 |pmid=11788545 |pmc=1071659 }}</ref>
* [[smallpox]]<ref name="Crosby 2001"/>
* [[typhoid fever]]<ref name="Crosby 2001"/>
* [[typhus]]<ref name="Martin Goodman 2002"/>
* [[yellow fever]]<ref name="Crosby 2001"/>
|
* [[syphilis]] (probably)<ref>{{cite web |last=Hemarjata |first=Peera |title=Revisiting the Great Imitator: The Origin and History of Syphilis |date=17 June 2019 |url=https://asm.org/Articles/2019/June/Revisiting-the-Great-Imitator,-Part-I-The-Origin-a |access-date=27 November 2023 |website=[[American Society for Microbiology]]}}</ref><!--many more sources at [[Syphilis]]-->
|}

The Indigenous population of [[Peru]] decreased from about 9 million in the pre-Columbian era, to 600,000 in 1620.<ref name="Denevan">{{cite journal |last=Denevan |first=William M. |title=Demographic Collapse: Indian Peru, 1520–1630 by Noble David Cook |journal=The Americas |date=October 1983 |volume=40 |issue=2 |pages=281–284 |doi=10.2307/980770 |jstor=980770 |s2cid=148174483 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/980770 |access-date=28 May 2021|url-access=subscription }}</ref> An estimated 80–95 percent of the Native American population died in epidemics within the first 100–150 years following 1492. Nunn and Qian also refer to the calculations of the scientist David Cook: in some cases no one survived due to diseases. The deadliest Old World diseases in the Americas were smallpox, [[measles]], [[whooping cough]], [[chicken pox]], [[bubonic plague]], [[typhus]], and [[malaria]].{{sfn|Nunn|Qian|2010|pages=164–165}} [[Yellow fever]] was brought to the Americas from Africa, probably by the slave trade. Many people in Africa had acquired immunity. Europeans suffered higher rates of death than did people of African descent when exposed to yellow fever in the Americas, as [[History of yellow fever|numerous epidemics]] swept the colonies and sugar plantations.<ref name="Chippaux 2018">{{cite journal |last1=Chippaux |first1=Jean-Philippe |last2=Chippaux |first2=Alain |title=Yellow fever in Africa and the Americas: a historical and epidemiological perspective |journal=The Journal of Venomous Animals and Toxins Including Tropical Diseases |volume=24 |issue=1 |date=25 August 2018 |page=20 |doi=10.1186/s40409-018-0162-y |doi-access=free|pmid=30158957 |pmc=6109282 }}</ref>

On the other hand, European exploration of tropical areas was aided by the New World discovery of [[quinine]], the first effective treatment for [[malaria]]. [[Cinchona]] trees from the Andes were processed and [[quinine]] was obtained from their bark.<ref name = "Nunn Qian 2010"/> Europeans suffered from this disease, but some Indigenous populations had developed at least partial resistance to it. In Africa, resistance to malaria has been associated with other genetic changes among sub-Saharan Africans and their descendants, which can cause [[sickle-cell disease]].{{sfn|Nunn|Qian|2010|page=164}} The resistance of sub-Saharan Africans to malaria in the southern United States and the Caribbean contributed greatly to the specific character of the Africa-sourced slavery in those regions.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Esposito |first=Elena |date=Summer 2015 |title=Side Effects of Immunities: the African Slave Trade |url=http://eh.net/eha/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Esposito.pdf |journal=[[European University Institute]] |access-date=October 30, 2018 |archive-date=November 12, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112014228/https://eh.net/eha/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Esposito.pdf |url-status=dead}}</ref>{{Clear}}