HistoryBook · 1972
The Columbian Exchange
Alfred W. Crosby
The book that made historians take biology seriously: maize, potatoes, horses and smallpox moving in both directions.
Why you should read this
Crosby coined the term itself to describe the exchange of crops, animals, and diseases between the Old World and the Americas after 1492, reframing 1492 as a biological event as much as a political one. A founding text of environmental history, best for readers who want the ecological angle on colonization rather than the political narrative.
- Field
- History
- Form
- Non-fiction
- Published
- 1972
- Themes
- History
