The term "The Columbian Exchange" was popularized by Alfred W. Crosby's seminal 1972 book, The Columbian Exchange: Biological and Cultural Consequences of 1492, which emphasized the transfers of the diseases, plants and animals introduced as a consequence of the continuous communications between the New World-North and South America, and the Old-Europe, Asia and Africa. The Columbian Exchange begins in the first global age, starting in the mid-fifteenth century, and was dominated by Spain and Portugal until the mid-seventeenth century. The Columbian Exchange resulted in the transfer of Old World diseases to the Americas, and vice versa. The time of arrival of the diseases varied depending on the nature of the disease and the mode of transmission. Old World plants preferred by the Europeans took slow and tenuous root in the Caribbean islands. Specimens of many of the animals of the Americas were sent to Europe for display and study, but none became popular food items save for the turkey.