Most people have only the vaguest notion of how profoundly the world was changed by Christopher Columbus's arrival in the Americas. Indeed, some of what is commonly regarded as "traditional" Native American life and culture--living in teepees and hunting buffalo from horseback, for example--came from the arrival of Europeans. This encyclopedia helps students acquire fundamental information about the Columbian Exchange through approximately 100 alphabetically arranged entries on animals, plants, diseases, and items that were exchanged, accompanied by sidebars throughout that provide...

Written with the needs of students in mind, "Foods That Changed History: How Foods Shaped Civilization from the Ancient World to the Present" presents nearly 100 entries on foods that have shaped history--fascinating topics that are rarely addressed in detail in traditional history texts. In learning about foods and their importance, readers will gain valuable insight into other areas such as religious movements, literature, economics, technology, and the human condition itself.

Readers will learn how the potato, for example, changed lives in drastic ways in northern Europe,...