The Columbian Exchange had a dramatic and negative effect on native cultures of the Americas, because it almost completely destroyed both the population and culture of native Americans. As an example, Agustín Muñoz Sanz (2012) argued, “in less than a century, several tens of millions of indigenous inhabitants disappeared from their own map. For example, 90% of the Caribbean and Arawak population died in the next twenty years following the arrival of Christopher Columbus.” The Caribbean islands were just the first to receive the conquerors and the subsequent act of desolation. As the conquerors spread through the continent, it would almost immediately follow a similar situation of death and destruction. The combination of disease and the action
Some consequences of the exchange are the spread of disease to the Native people and settlers, the destruction of the Native population, and the disappearance of the Natives custom’s, beliefs, and way of life. Columbus’s arrival to the Americas, land that had already been established by the Natives, resulted in a spread of fatal diseases. Disagreement between the Europeans and the Natives and the enslavement of Native people helped to wipe out the population. Document 5 illustrates the fighting that occurred between the Natives and Europeans.
The Columbian Exchange impacted Native Americans, Europeans, and Africans in many ways. Some of the major components of this exchange were plants, animals, and diseases. The Native Americans was impacted because they did not have immune systems capable of handling diseases such as; small pox, the plague, and yellow fever. This resulted in the population of Native Americans being cut by at least 90% over the course of a couple hundred years and making it easier for foreigners to come in and take over. The animal that helped the Native Americans was the horse. It helped them expand and explore places other than agricultural plains like mountains. The Europeans brought back tobacco. Tabaco then lead to many deaths because of its health issues involved with the use. They also got introduced to tomatoes which people thought for a long time was not edible. Africans acquired potatoes and maize, which became a main staple in Africa.
From the moment Hernan Cortes landed in Mexico and began his campaign against the Aztec empire, the people of the new world were doomed to be conquered by both technological and biological means. Smallpox, a disease that had never been experienced in America before the arrival of the Europeans devastated large scale native populations. The abandonment of the famous lost city of Machu Picchu stands as a famous example of the devastation of native populations.
Beginning in the fifteenth century with the arrival of Columbus, natives of the Americas were infected with European diseases that proved to be deadly to the Indians. The population in northern Mexico suffered an immense decimation of 2,500,000 peoples to less than 320,000 by the end of the sixteenth century (Vargas, 30). The Spaniards’ cruel treatment of the natives aided this vast reduction in the Aztec and Mexican population, enabling the Spaniards to conquer the lands of the Aztecs and other native tribes. By the end of the sixteenth century, the Spaniards had expanded their conquests into the southwest region of what is now known as the United States of America.
This was the positive effect of the encounter and it was largely responsible for the doubling of the world’s population over the next three hundred years. There were also many negative effects to the “Columbian Exchange”. A major consequence was the spread of disease in the New World. Diseases carried by Europeans and Africans devastated the population of the Americas. As Europeans traveled through the Americas, epidemics came with them.
On August 3, 1492, Christopher Columbus departed from Palos, Spain to begin his journey across the Atlantic Ocean. This was the first of many voyages that allowed him to explore a New World where he was able to discover plants, animals, cultures and resources that Europeans had never seen before. The sharing of these resources and combination of the Old and New World has come to be known as the Columbian Exchange. During these explorations, the Europeans brought diseases such as malaria, yellow fever, typhoid and bubonic plague to the New World, wiping out entire Indian populations. There were also many other populations wiped out due to complications that came from this exchange. Were these explorations and the wiping out of entire populations worth the benefits gained by the exchange?
The Columbian exchange was the widespread transfer of various products such as animals, plants, and culture between the Americas and Europe. Though most likely unintentional, the byproduct that had the largest impact from this exchange between the old and new world was communicable diseases. Europeans and other immigrants brought a host of diseases with them to America, which killed as much as ninety percent of the native population. Epidemics ravaged both native and nonnative populations of the new world destroying civilizations. The source of these epidemics were due to low resistance, poor sanitation, and inadequate medical knowledge- “more die of the practitioner than of the natural course of the disease (Duffy).” These diseases of the new world posed a serious
The origins of globalization can be traced many centuries back; however the initial date remains a highly controversial issue amongst historians to this day. Nonetheless, one fact is coherent; it played a big influence during the formation of collective identity group’s legacies. In addition, European monarchs also impacted many cultural groups through their quest for imperialism during the “Age of Discovery”. The following quote does an excellent job illustrating the consequences of European expansion. “Europe’s encounter with and treatment of the world’s tribal people is, a tale of extraordinary human achievement in adversity, conferring on the victors much of the possession of the worlds resources.” To reiterate, European expansion was
Rough Draft Throughout the fifteenth and sixteenth century there was a great expansion into the European exploration and colonization of North America. Many Europeans sought to change their lives in the new world. Here, they could start a new life, and live free of the religious persecution occurring in Europe. The British were one of the main European groups who settled and colonized North America.
Microbes from Europe introduced new diseases and produced devastating epidemics that swept through the native populations (Nichols 2008). The result from the diseases brought over, such as smallpox, was a demographic catastrophe that killed millions of people, weakened existing societies, and greatly aided the Spanish and Portuguese in their rapid and devastating conquest of the existing American empires (Brinkley 2014). Interaction took place with the arrival of whites and foreigners. The first and perhaps most profound result of this exchange was the imp...
Native Americans were abused by Spanish officials when the Spanish invaded their lands. In an attempt to control the attacks of the Native Americans, they enlisted fear into the minds of the Indians.
In the article, “Columbus’s Legacy: Genocide in the America’s,” by David E. Stannard, the theme can be identified as contrary to popular belief that the millions of native peoples of the Americas that perished in the sixteenth century died not only from disease brought over by the Europeans, but also as a result of mass murder, as well as death due to working them to death.
“More than a year after his arrival in 1492, Columbus returned to the Americas with 17 ships and 1,200 men, enslaving the natives in search of gold. With his expedition also came disease, decimating the population. By 1555, some claim that two million natives on the island of Hispaniola were nearly reduced to extinction. And for this cruelty, America awards Columbus
The Effects of Colonization on the Native Americans Native Americans had inherited the land now called America and eventually their lives were destroyed due to European colonization. When the Europeans arrived and settled, they changed the Native American way of life for the worse. These changes were caused by a number of factors including disease, loss of land, attempts to export religion, and laws, which violated Native American culture. Native Americans never came in contact with diseases that developed in the Old World because they were separated from Asia, Africa, and Europe when ocean levels rose following the end of the last Ice Age. Diseases like smallpox, measles, pneumonia, influenza, and malaria were unknown to the Native Americans until the Europeans brought these diseases over time to them.
Colonization in Latin America had a major effect on the Americas because the Aztecs died of the disease that the Europeans brought over though the Columbian Exchange. Since the Aztecs could not do much about the diseases that were spreading a lot of them began to die. The evidence from the pictures show that the Columbian Exchange took place during the 16th century. (doc 1). A lot of the Aztecs got sick and died. People could not do much about the diseases because they did not know what kind of disease it was. The Aztecs were also not immune to any of the disease that were spreading. Those are some reasons why the colonization in Latin America had a major effect on the Natives.