THE RECORD
What changed
Maize, potatoes and tomatoes moved east; horses, wheat, sugar and pathogens moved west. Enslaved Africans were central to the system.
EVIDENCE
What remains
Ship records, biological remains, isotopes, genomes and Indigenous and European texts document movement and demographic collapse.
WHY IT MATTERS
Why it matters
Connecting long-separated ecologies reshaped diets, population, land use and power worldwide.
OPEN QUESTION
Where interpretation begins
The word discovery erases Indigenous peoples, while disease alone cannot explain colonial violence.