The Age of Exploration and the Columbian Exchange

课文

1. Starting in the late 1400s, European sailors crossed oceans using improved maps, compasses, and stronger ships.

   从15世纪晚期起，欧洲航海家凭借改良的地图、罗盘和更坚固的船只横渡大洋。

2. Columbus’s 1492 voyage accidentally linked the Americas with Europe, Africa, and Asia—starting a global transfer of plants, animals, and diseases.

   哥伦布1492年的航行意外地将美洲与欧洲、非洲和亚洲连接起来，开启了全球范围的动植物及疾病大交换。

3. Wheat, horses, and cattle traveled westward, changing farming and transportation for Indigenous peoples across the Americas.

   小麦、马匹和牛群西传，改变了美洲原住民的农业方式和交通运输。

4. Meanwhile, potatoes, maize, tomatoes, and chili peppers spread eastward, boosting diets and populations in Europe and Asia.

   与此同时，马铃薯、玉米、番茄和辣椒东传，丰富了欧洲和亚洲的饮食结构，推动人口增长。

5. Smallpox and measles, carried unknowingly by Europeans, killed up to 90% of some Native American communities within decades.

   欧洲人无意携带的天花和麻疹，在数十年内导致部分美洲原住民社群人口锐减高达90%。

6. Sugar plantations in the Caribbean relied on enslaved Africans, whose knowledge of tropical crops helped reshape global agriculture.

   加勒比地区的甘蔗种植园依赖非洲奴隶劳力，他们对热带作物的耕作知识重塑了全球农业格局。

7. This exchange did not happen evenly—it favored colonizers’ interests while disrupting ecosystems and societies worldwide.

   这场交换并不均衡——它偏向殖民者的利益，同时扰乱了全球的生态系统与社会结构。

8. Still, it marked the beginning of truly interconnected food systems that continue shaping health and trade today.

   但它标志着真正互联互通的全球食物体系的开端，至今仍在影响人类健康与国际贸易。