Christopher Columbus

Died 1506

Begins Columbian Exchange.

• 1492 CE

  Columbus reaches Americas

  Begins Columbian Exchange.

• ~1500 CE

  Columbian Exchange transforms the world

  Columbus's voyages trigger a permanent exchange of plants, animals, and diseases between hemispheres. American crops—maize, potatoes, tomatoes—double Europe's food supply. European diseases kill up to 90% of Indigenous Americans. Nothing was the same on either side.