Alfred Worcester Crosby

Professor Alfred Worcester Crosby taught at the University of Texas in Austin for 22 years and retired in 1999 as professor emeritus of geography, history and American studies. Before that, while teaching at Washington State University, he was involved in a student strike that led to his becoming a co-founder, with the anthropologist Johetta Cole, of the school’s first black studies department. He taught there for 11 years. Professor Crosby is considered the "Father of Environmental History" due to his studies and research in the fields of history, geography, biology, and medicine. He is the author of such books as The Columbian Exchange (1972) and Ecological Imperialism (1986). In these works, he provides biological and geographical explanations for why Europeans were able to succeed with relative ease in what he refers to as the Neo-Europes of Australasia, North America, and southern South America. Recognizing the majority of modern-day wealth is located in Europe and the Neo-Europes, Crosby set out to investigate what historical causes are behind the disparity.