Talk:Columbian exchange

Controversial land bridge theory

The background section seems to espouse the controversial Bering land bridge theory of migration while claiming it is scientific consensus with no sources or citations. https://www.nps.gov/bela/learn/historyculture/other-migration-theories.htm Melbee503 (talk) 16:19, 12 October 2025 (UTC)

The section is fully cited to reliable sources, and there is no mention nor suggestion of any land bridge. The evidence is that people arrived in the New World from the Old, however they may have travelled. Chiswick Chap (talk) 16:33, 12 October 2025 (UTC)

"we must focus on the key points"

Hi @Chiswick Chap:, you reverted my edit, don't you thing that cat, domestic goose and domestic rabbit in one way, and guinea pig in the other way are noticeable domestic animals to be mentionned in this article? Astirmays (talk) 21:53, 12 January 2026 (UTC)

Hi, Astirmays. I think Chiswick Chap's objection to the addition was more consonant with its lack of sourcing rather than its importance. That said, I do agree that the effects of the guinea pig and domestic rabbit have had a rather minute effect on the Old World as compared to the influence of, say, cattle and chickens on the the New World. I would also like to apologize in advance for reverting your edit with a WP:NOTBROKEN tag; I misread your change by mistake. I still believe Chiswick Chap's choice of link is more appropriate, but I did want to apologize for citing the wrong policy in reverting you. Best, ThaesOfereode (talk) 00:04, 13 January 2026 (UTC)

Thanks both. We are obliged to stay with the sources, we can't make stuff up. That said, small domestic animals may be nice but perhaps didn't change whole cultures and civilisations, as the larger exchange certainly did. Chiswick Chap (talk) 06:28, 13 January 2026 (UTC)

@ThaesOfereode: I got it. However, it was not the wild turkey or the ocellated turkey that was introduced to the Old World (or only very marginally, without spreading or for some zoos), but the domestic turkey, which is raised there on a large scale, even if much less so than chicken. Hence my latest modification (links and image).

(Domestic rabbit was native to the Old World, although it is probably still there that it is bred most extensively for its meat). Astirmays (talk) 09:59, 14 January 2026 (UTC)

OK, I've picked a suitably-shaped domestic image. Chiswick Chap (talk) 12:37, 14 January 2026 (UTC)

Introduction of calabash

In 2014, a more thorough genetic study of the calabash plant refuted the theory that it was brought over to the Americas by Paleolithic hunter-gatherers during the original settlement of the New World. See [https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3939861/ Transoceanic drift and the domestication of African bottle gourds in the Americas]. Seems like we should remove this assertion. Glendoremus (talk) 04:34, 27 January 2026 (UTC)

Done. Chiswick Chap (talk) 12:03, 27 January 2026 (UTC)