Evaluate the extent to which the Columbian Exchange affected the Eastern and Western Hemispheres differently in the period circa 1450 to 1750.
Excerpts from historical sources. Cuts are marked with ellipses, and words in brackets were added for clarity.
Document 1
Christopher Columbus, commander of the second Spanish expedition to the Caribbean, memorandum for King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain, sent with the ship captain Antonio de Torres, written at the new Spanish settlement of Isabela on the island of Hispaniola, 1494. The "Caribbees" were the Carib peoples of the eastern Caribbean islands.
We are very confident, from what we can see, that wheat and grapes will grow very well in this country. . . . There are also sugar-canes, of which the small quantity that we have planted has taken root. . . .
Sheep, and still better, lambs and lambkins, more females than males, young calves and heifers, also are wanted, and should be sent by every caravel that may be dispatched hither; and at the same time some asses, both male and female, and mares for labour and tillage; for here there are no beasts that a man can turn to any use. . . .
Considering what great need we have of cattle and of beasts of burden . . . their Highnesses might authorize a suitable number of caravels to come here every year to bring over the said cattle, and provisions, and other articles; these cattle, etc., might be sold at moderate prices for account of the bearers, and the latter might be paid with slaves, taken from among the Caribbees, who are a wild people, fit for any work . . . .
Document 2
Annals of the Cakchiquels, a history of the Kaqchikel Maya people written in the Kaqchikel language by members of the noble Xahil family, Guatemala, second half of the 1500s. The passage describes an epidemic of about 1520, a few years before Spanish forces reached Kaqchikel lands in 1524.
In the course of the fifth year the pestilence began, O my children. First there was a cough, then the blood was corrupted, and the urine became yellow. The number of deaths at this time was truly terrible. The Chief Vakaki Ahmak died, and we ourselves were plunged in great darkness and great grief, our fathers and ancestors having contracted the plague, O my children. . . .
But two days afterward died our father, the Counselor Balam, one of the ancients, O my children. The ancients and the fathers died alike, and the stench was such that men died of it alone. Then perished our fathers and ancestors. Half the people threw themselves into the ravines, and the dogs and foxes lived on the bodies of the men. The fear of death destroyed the old people, and the oldest son of the king died at the same time as his young brother. Thus did we become poor, O my children, and thus did we survive, being but a little child—and we were all that remained.
Document 3
Visual source
Drawing by Indigenous artists working under the direction of Bernardino de Sahagún, a Spanish Franciscan missionary, in the Florentine Codex, Book 12, an account of the Spanish conquest compiled from the testimony of Nahua (Aztec) elders, central Mexico, completed c. 1577. The drawing illustrates the smallpox epidemic of 1520.
Florentine Codex, Book 12, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana; Wikimedia Commons, public domainDescribe the image
A framed pen-and-ink drawing divided into panels. At upper left, a person whose face, arms, and back are covered with round sores sits wrapped in a blanket on a mat, while a second, unmarked person sits beside them, reaching toward them and speaking (a speech scroll comes from this person's mouth). At lower left, another person covered with sores lies under a blanket on a woven mat, with a speech scroll rising from the mouth. The right half of the drawing shows three more people lying side by side on woven mats, wrapped in blankets, with sores on their faces and, on two of them, on their arms and shoulders.
Document 4
King James I of England, A Counterblaste to Tobacco, pamphlet published anonymously in London, 1604.
And now good country men let us (I pray you) consider, what honour or policy can move us to imitate the barbarous and beastly manners of the wild, godless, and slavish Indians, especially in so vile and stinking a custom? . . .
Now how you are by this custom disabled in your goods, let the gentry of this land bear witness, some of them bestowing three, some four hundred pounds a year upon this precious stink . . . . The public use whereof, at all times, and in all places, hath now so far prevailed, as divers men very sound both in judgement, and complexion, have been at last forced to take it also without desire . . . .
A custom loathsome to the eye, hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain, dangerous to the lungs, and in the black stinking fume thereof, nearest resembling the horrible Stygian smoke of the pit that is bottomless.
Document 5
Garcilaso de la Vega, known as El Inca, historian born in Cuzco to a Spanish conquistador and an Inca noblewoman, Royal Commentaries of the Incas, published in Lisbon, 1609. Rimac and "the City of the Kings" are names for Lima; a repartimiento was a grant of the labor of a group of Indigenous people.
It must be known, then, that the first person who brought wheat to my country (for I call all that empire which belonged to the Incas my native land) was a lady of good birth named Maria de Escobar . . . . This lady, worthy of high honour, brought wheat to the city of Rimac. For another such service the ancients worshipped Ceres as a goddess, but those of my country think little of this lady. . . . As a reward for this service, and also because her husband was one of the first conquerors, they gave this estimable lady a good repartimiento of Indians in the City of the Kings. . . .
The Indians, although wine is now cheap, care little for it, being satisfied with their ancient beverage made of maize and water. . . . The anxiety of the Spaniards to see the things of their country in the Indies has been so great, and their efforts have been so efficacious, that neither danger nor trouble has been spared to attain their desires.
Document 6
Willem Bosman, senior official of the Dutch West India Company at Elmina on the Gold Coast of West Africa (present-day Ghana), A New and Accurate Description of the Coast of Guinea, 1704. "Milhio" and "Turkish Wheat" were names for maize; "these two Fruits" are yams and a root crop Bosman calls potatoes.
The large Milhio is by most taken to be the Turkish Wheat . . . . The Milhio is here sowed and reaped twice every Year . . . .
In War-time it sometimes rises to an incredible Price . . . . To which the laziness of the [Africans], which is so great that they seldom sow more than what is like to be consumed that Year, contributes very much, as also the great number of English Slave-Ships which yearly come to this Coast; for these not being so well victualled as we, they are obliged to buy Milhio, which yearly carries off many Thousand Sacks. . . .
It is told me as Truth, that before the Portuguese came to this Coast, the [Africans] subsisted themselves with these two Fruits, and a few Roots of Trees; they being then utterly ignorant of Milhio, which was brought thither by that Nation.
Document 7
Data
Estimated population by region, in millions, from the HYDE 3.3 historical population database as published by Our World in Data. Figures rounded; all figures are estimates. Asia includes China.
Region | 1500 | 1600 | 1700 | 1750
North America, Central America, and the Caribbean | 30.5 | 3.8 | 6.8 | 11.4
South America | 29.9 | 6.4 | 5.9 | 7.0
Europe | 78.6 | 101.5 | 115.4 | 154.8
Africa | 58.6 | 68.6 | 78.6 | 79.4
Asia | 303.9 | 334.1 | 386.9 | 498.7
China | 91.3 | 98.1 | 99.4 | 178.3
How it's scored
1 ptThesis or claim. A historically defensible thesis that establishes a line of reasoning, in one or more consecutive sentences in the intro or conclusion.
1 ptContextualization. Describe a broader historical context relevant to the prompt: events, developments, or processes before, during, or after the prompt's time frame.
2 ptsEvidence from the documents. One point for accurately describing the content of three documents. Two points for using the content of at least four documents to support the argument.
1 ptEvidence beyond the documents. Use one specific, relevant piece of historical evidence that appears in none of the documents, and explain how it supports the argument.
1 ptAnalysis and reasoning: sourcing. For at least two documents, explain how or why the point of view, purpose, historical situation, or intended audience is relevant to the argument.
1 ptAnalysis and reasoning: complexity. Demonstrate a complex understanding: explain nuance, consider multiple variables, analyze both similarity and difference, or qualify the argument with evidence that cuts against it.
