Chapter 1 centers on two historic monuments, the Faro a Colón and a statue of Miguel López de Legazpi and Andrés Ochoa de Urdaneta y Cerain. For Mann, each monument represents how the Columbian Exchange altered the cultural, economic, and ecological landscape of the globe.

Mann asserts that the controversial figure of Christopher Columbus deserves analysis, namely because of the significant impact the Columbian Exchange had on the world. Despite many challenges, Cristóbal Colón (his name at the time), managed to convince the monarchy to financially support his attempt to find a new route to China and sail three ships from Spain to what is now the island of Hispaniola (i.e., the island land mass that includes Haiti and the Dominican Republic).

In the short term, the arrival of the Spanish and establishment of La Isabela had major adverse effects on the Indigenous population. Estimates of Indigenous populations in the area in 1492 range from 60,000 to 8 million, but Spanish violence and disease reduced that number to approximately 500 Taino. In the long term, Colón established a new world order of global exchange affecting every aspect of human and ecological life and ushering in the

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