The triangular trade was the trade between Europe, Africa, and the Americas. Raw materials like precious metals (gold and silver), tobacco, sugar and cotton went from the Americas to Europe.

The Silk Road was a by-word for rich caravans, but primarily it was the name of the network of trade routes that, in ancient times, led from China through Central Asia to Europe.

The triangle, involving three continents, was complete. European capital, African labour and American land and resources combined to supply a European market. The colonists in the Americas also made direct slaving voyages to Africa, which did not follow the triangular route.

On the first leg of their three-part journey, often called the Triangular Trade, European ships brought manufactured goods, weapons, even liquor to Africa in exchange for slaves; on the second, they transported African men, women, and children to the Americas to serve as slaves; and on the third leg, they exported to …

Mercantilism led to the emergence of what’s been called the “triangular trade”: a system of exchange in which Europe supplied Africa and the Americas with finished goods, the Americas supplied Europe and Africa with raw materials, and Africa supplied the Americas with enslaved laborers.

The Americas’ farmers’ gifts to other continents included staples such as corn (maize), potatoes, cassava, and sweet potatoes, together with secondary food crops such as tomatoes, peanuts, pumpkins, squashes, pineapples, and chili peppers.

As Europeans traversed the Atlantic, they brought with them plants, animals, and diseases that changed lives and landscapes on both sides of the ocean. These two-way exchanges between the Americas and Europe/Africa are known collectively as the Columbian Exchange.

The Columbian Exchange caused population growth in Europe by bringing new crops from the Americas and started Europe’s economic shift towards capitalism. Colonization disrupted ecosytems, bringing in new organisms like pigs, while completely eliminating others like beavers.

In addition to plants, Europeans brought domesticated animals such as cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, and horses.

Background. The European starling (Sturnus vulgaris) is native to Europe and then was introduced into other countries around the world including North America. European starlings have a glossy black appearance and are commonly found in large flocks whose flying is synchronized.

The flow from east to west: Disease By far the most dramatic and devastating impact of the Columbian Exchange followed the introduction of new diseases into the Americas. Meanwhile, in Asia and Africa, the domestication of herd animals brought new diseases spread by cattle, sheep, pigs, and fowl.

The spread of disease. Possibly the most dramatic, immediate impact of the Columbian Exchange was the spread of diseases. In places where the local population had no or little resistance, especially the Americas, the effect was horrific. Prior to contact, indigenous populations thrived across North and South America.

The Columbian exchange of crops affected both the Old World and the New. Amerindian crops that have crossed oceans—for example, maize to China and the white potato to Ireland—have been stimulants to population growth in the Old World.

When the Europeans arrived, carrying germs which thrived in dense, semi-urban populations, the indigenous people of the Americas were effectively doomed. They had never experienced smallpox, measles or flu before, and the viruses tore through the continent, killing an estimated 90% of Native Americans.

In 1851, Francis Parkman was the first historian to document Lord Amherst’s “shameful plan” to exterminate Indians by giving them smallpox-in- fected blankets taken from the corpses of British soldiers at Fort Pitt in 1763 (Parkman 1991:646–651).

Edward Jenner (Figure ​1) is well known around the world for his innovative contribution to immunization and the ultimate eradication of smallpox (2).

Just because you were exposed to smallpox does not mean that you were necessarily exposed and infected. The only way that one becomes immune to the disease is by natural disease (development of rash) and by successful vaccination, although the vaccination does not provide life-long immunity.

Smallpox has existed for at least 3000 years and was one of the world’s most feared diseases until it was eradicated by a collaborative global vaccination programme led by the World Health Organization. The last known natural case was in Somalia in 1977.

The last naturally occurring case of smallpox was reported in 1977. In 1980, the World Health Organization declared that smallpox had been eradicated. Currently, there is no evidence of naturally occurring smallpox transmission anywhere in the world.

The Shooter Inquiry found that Parker was accidentally exposed to a strain of smallpox virus that had been grown in a research laboratory on the floor below her workplace at the University of Birmingham Medical School.

Thanks to the success of vaccination, the last natural outbreak of smallpox in the United States occurred in 1949. In 1980, the World Health Assembly declared smallpox eradicated (eliminated), and no cases of naturally occurring smallpox have happened since.

Historically, ordinary smallpox had an overall fatality rate of about 30%, and the malignant and hemorrhagic forms were usually fatal. The incubation period between contraction and the first obvious symptoms of the disease was around 12 days.

Today, the virus only exists in two secure laboratory facilities in the U.S. and Russia. One of history’s deadliest diseases, smallpox is estimated to have killed more than 300 million people since 1900 alone.

In 1980 WHO declared smallpox eradicated – the only infectious disease to achieve this distinction.

Two infectious diseases have successfully been eradicated: smallpox in humans and rinderpest in ruminants. There are four ongoing programs, targeting the human diseases poliomyelitis (polio), yaws, dracunculiasis (Guinea worm), and malaria.