The Columbian Exchange Quiz

Grade 6 · Social Studies · Quiz

Test your knowledge of the Columbian Exchange — what moved between hemispheres and the consequences for global history.

Questions

What event triggered the Columbian Exchange?
1. The fall of the Roman Empire
2. Christopher Columbus's 1492 voyage to the Americas
3. Vasco da Gama's route to India
4. The Protestant Reformation
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Answer: Christopher Columbus's 1492 voyage to the Americas
Columbus's 1492 voyage was the first permanent link between the Eastern and Western Hemispheres, initiating the continuous exchange of living things.
The Columbian Exchange included the movement of diseases as well as plants and animals.
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Answer: True
Diseases were the most devastating part of the exchange — European diseases like smallpox traveled to the Americas with catastrophic consequences for indigenous peoples.
Which of the following is a food that moved FROM the Americas TO Europe?
1. Wheat
2. Rice
3. Potato
4. Sugar cane
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Answer: Potato
The potato is native to the Andes in South America. After reaching Europe, it became a staple crop in Ireland, Germany, and Russia.
Indigenous Americans lacked ___ to European diseases because they had never been exposed to them.
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Answer: immunity
Immunity develops over generations of exposure. Indigenous Americans had no history with European diseases, making epidemics far more deadly than in Europe.
What crop, introduced to the Americas from Europe, became the foundation of the brutal slave trade?
1. Wheat
2. Sugar cane
3. Cotton
4. Tobacco
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Answer: Sugar cane
Sugar cane, grown in Caribbean and South American plantations, was enormously profitable and created a massive demand for enslaved labor from Africa.
Before Columbus, horses did not exist anywhere in the Americas.
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Answer: False
Horses were actually native to the Americas millions of years ago but went extinct there roughly 10,000 years ago. Spanish colonists reintroduced them in the 1500s.
Which disease was most devastating to indigenous American populations?
1. Malaria
2. Cholera
3. Smallpox
4. Tuberculosis
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Answer: Smallpox
Smallpox was the single deadliest disease, killing 30–90% of indigenous populations in various regions. It spread rapidly ahead of direct European contact.
The transfer of living things between the Eastern and Western Hemispheres after 1492 is called the ___ Exchange.
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Answer: Columbian
The Columbian Exchange is named after Columbus because his 1492 voyage initiated the permanent biological connection between hemispheres.
How did the introduction of the horse affect Plains Native American cultures?
1. It had no effect — they refused to use it
2. It transformed hunting and warfare, making them more powerful
3. It replaced buffalo as their main food source
4. It allowed them to build permanent settlements
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Answer: It transformed hunting and warfare, making them more powerful
Plains nations like the Sioux and Comanche mastered horsemanship rapidly after the 1600s, becoming highly mobile buffalo hunters and formidable military forces.
Potatoes and corn from the Americas helped feed larger populations in Europe and Asia after the Columbian Exchange.
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Answer: True
New World crops — especially potato and maize — were more calorie-dense per acre than European crops, supporting larger populations and contributing to population growth.

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