Remembering the Colombian exchange

John Bachelor has an interview with the author of 1493, which discusses the Colombian exchange: how European and African plants and diseases affected the Americas, and vice versa.




part 2 3 and 4 can be found on his webpage LINK

a lot of Americans know part of the story, but they miss this part: that Colombus was correct in thinking that going west would let them go to China to trade.

Eight decades after Columbus, a Spaniard named Legazpi succeeded where Columbus had failed. He sailed from western Mexico across the Pacific to establish continual trade with China, then the richest, most powerful country in the world.

In Manila, a city that Legazpi founded, silver from the Americas, mined by African and Indian slaves, was sold to Asians in return for silk for Europeans.

It was the first time that goods and people from every corner of the globe were connected in a single worldwide exchange. Much as Columbus created a new world biologically, Legazpi and the Spanish empire he served created a new world economically.

Mann's book 1493 can be downloaded at internet archives, and his book 1491, about the civilizations in the Americas before Colombus, can be found on Internet archives.

Crosby's classic book on the Columbian exchange can be borrowed from Internet archive, and the Smithsonian magazine has this article about it.

Right now, I am busy reading about alternate history: not that of wars and conquests, but about trade and technology.

A good place to start in this is in Braudel's trilogy of the history of ordinary life and trade. (see internet archive). also here.
and don't forget the history of Arab/Indian trade in the Indian ocean.

and the Philippines was actually not connected directly to Spain, but our connection was mainly with Mexico.

and the Manila Galleon was about China: And the Chinese community in Manila.