The use of the terms Encounter and Columbian Exchange represents attempts to describe the (1) nature of cultural interactions. An encounter is an authentic, congruent meeting between two individuals and the Columbian Exchange was the widespread transfer of animals, plants, culture, human populations, technology and ideas between the American and Afro-Eurasian hemispheres in the 15th and 16th centuries related to European colonization and trade, including the African/American slave trade after Christopher Columbus' 1492 voyage.