The Columbian Exchange
The Columbian Exchange—the transfer of plants, animals, diseases, and ideas set in motion by European voyages across the Atlantic—marked a dramatic change in global history. Exploring this critical turning point will help students understand both the immediate and gradual consequences of the first truly global network.
In this three-day Columbian Exchange lesson plan, students will learn how new routes of exchange and the interconnection of previously isolated continents changed the world forever.
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Columbian Exchange Three-Day Lesson Plan
Teaching this lesson will take approximately 50-150 minutes (one to three 50-min class periods) and will address the following objectives:
Skills objective- Use the historical thinking practice of sourcing to evaluate differing perspectives of European and Indigenous American interactions.
- Assess the impact of the Columbian Exchange on communities, networks, and the environment in Afro-Eurasia and the Americas.
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Lesson Length: 100-150 minutes (three 50-min class periods)
Lesson Objectives
Skills objectives
- Use the historical thinking practice of sourcing to evaluate differing perspectives of European and Indigenous American interactions.
- Asses the impact of the Columbian Exchange on communities, networks, and the environment in Afro-Eurasia and the Americas.
Lesson Description:
Of course, there were complex networks of exchange in the Americas long before Columbus arrived. Yet, after the connection between the Americas and Afro-Eurasia began in the late fifteenth century, the first global network emerged. Students will learn how the exchange of goods, ideas, diseases, and people forever altered the complexity of life on Earth. The Columbian Exchange had a massive impact on the demography of the world, and students will analyze the complexity of this exchange through primary and secondary source analysis and informal writing.Note to teachers:
This lesson plan offers a suggested pathway to support the lesson objectives listed above. Based on the needs and objectives of your classroom, you may choose to substitute with the resources listed in “Additional Materials.” -
The Columbian Exchange created a global network that would forever alter the world’s people, plants, and animals.
Students are introduced to the Columbian Exchange by exploring how the transfer of goods, people, disease, and ideas marked the beginning of a period of rapid cultural change. This was a network of exchange that covered almost the entire world and moved new plants and animals to new places, transforming societies and environments around the world.
- Interactive Opener: Goods of the Columbian Exchange: Are honeybees native to the Americas? Did apples travel from the “New World” to the “Old” or vice versa? In this interactive warm-up, students take an educated guess and find out!
- Note: If you’re tight on time, you could skip right to the Quick Opener, which should only take a couple minutes. But if you’re going to use both, use the Interactive Opener first, as the video will reveal the answers otherwise!
- Quick Opener: Columbian Exchange Intro Video: Kick off this topic by playing this one-minute video for your class. You may want to pause at points to encourage students to examine the maps, or to discuss their initial thoughts on the positives and negatives of this exchange. Finally, give your students time at the end of the video to consider how the Columbian Exchange has impacted their lives.
- Read: “The Columbian Exchange”: For better or for worse, Christopher Columbus’s arrival in North America led to a system of exchange that fundamentally altered the environment, economic systems, and culture across the world. For additional teaching support, including key idea reading questions, click here (log-in required).
- Activity: World Zone Café: How did the Columbian Exchange impact the food we eat? In this activity, students will create a menu that features both pre- and post-Columbian Exchange items.
- Assessment: Three-Sentence Essay Exit Ticket: To review key concepts from the materials, students will write a three-sentence summary of what they learned. Then, they’ll pair with a partner to share their summary and have an opportunity to revise before turning it in.
Additional Materials:
- Watch: “The Columbian Exchange: Crash Course World History #23”
- Read “Crops that Grew the World”
- Read: “Investigating the Consequences of the Columbian Exchange”
- Activity: Columbian Exchange Timeline
- Activity: Our Interconnected World
- Interactive Opener: Goods of the Columbian Exchange: Are honeybees native to the Americas? Did apples travel from the “New World” to the “Old” or vice versa? In this interactive warm-up, students take an educated guess and find out!
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The Columbian Exchange transformed communities across the world. Not only foods, but also people moved as a result of this exchange—and not always willingly. Millions of Africans and Europeans ended up in the Americas, a large proportion of them enslaved or otherwise unfree. In the Americas, European conquest permanently altered life for Indigenous communities.
- Opener: What Do I Know? What Do I Want to Find Out?: In this quick warm-up activity, students have five minutes to preview the materials for the day and write one sentence describing what they think they already know about the material and one question they have. You may also choose to have a quick class discussion based on student responses.
- Read: “Transatlantic Migration Patterns”: Starting in the late fifteenth century, the population of the Americas changed rapidly. People moved across the Atlantic for multiple reasons, both voluntarily and involuntarily. For additional teaching support, including key idea reading questions, click here (log-in required).
- Read: Amonute – Graphic Biography: Though the facts of her life are disputed, Amonute was an important figure in the relationship between the Powhatan people and English settlers in Virginia. For additional teaching support, including key idea reading questions, click here (log-in required).
- Assessment: Quick Quiz: In this quick assessment activity, students will write two to three quiz questions they feel capture the most important information from the day. They’ll pair with a partner and take their quiz, then discuss with the class what made a good question, and why.
Additional Materials:
- Read: “The Disastrous Effects of Increased Global Interaction”
- Read: “When Humans Become Inhumane”
- Read: “The Transatlantic Slave Trade”
- Activity: Quick Sourcing – Accounts of the Transatlantic Slave Trade
- Read: “Primary Sources: Accounts of the Transatlantic Slave Trade”
- Read: “Religious Syncretism in Colonial Mexico City”
- Activity: Causation – Migration
These additional materials support extended learning objectives, including:
- Assess the impact of the Columbian Exchange and transatlantic migrations on communities in Afro-Eurasia and the Americas.
- Evaluate the connection between the Columbian Exchange, the transatlantic slave trade, and the plantation system.
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In 1491, no one living in Europe, Asia, or Africa knew that there were humans in the Americas, and no one in the Americas knew there were humans in Afro-Eurasia. Today, students will use primary source documents to examine different perspectives of the same historical event to create deeper insight into the effects of interconnection. Then, they’ll synthesize their learning from the lesson and respond to a writing prompt.
- Opener: A Different View: Whether in poetry, or history, it’s pretty amazing how a change in perspective can give you an entirely different view.
- Skills Activity: Sourcing - Spanish Conquest of the Aztec Empire: These sixteenth-century primary source documents describe the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire. Why did they do it? How did Indigenous peoples respond?
- Assessment: Writing Assessment: Students will use all the information they’ve learned over the past three days to write a paragraph response to the prompt: How did the Columbian Exchange create lasting change to communities, exchange networks, and the environment in Afro-Eurasia and the Americas?
Additional Materials:
Take a closer look
Supporting materials or full lesson? We’ve got you covered.
Take a deep dive into our free, middle- and high school-level Columbian Exchange materials. Check out the articles, videos, and activities to support an existing lesson, or use our three-day Columbian Exchange lesson plan to explore the global consequences of this momentous event.
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