Give two examples of different types of global exchanges which took place before the seventeenth century, choosing one example from Asia and one from the Americas.
Answer:
Exchange of food: Food offers many examples of long-distance cultural exchange. It is believed that ‘noodles’ traveled west from China to become ‘spaghetti’.
Exchange of germs: The Portuguese and Spanish conquests and colonization of America were decisively underway by the mid-sixteenth century. The European conquest was not just a result of superior firepower. In fact, the most powerful weapon of the Spanish conquerors was not a conventional military weapon at all. It was the germs such as those of smallpox that they carried on their person. Because of their long isolation, America’s original inhabitants had no immunity against these diseases that came from Europe. Smallpox in particular proved a deadly killer. Once introduced, it spread deep into the continent, ahead even of any European reaching there. It killed and decimated whole communities, paving the way for conquest.
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