In 1540 to 1700, the Scientific Revolution occured, events and tools created during this time period would change life forever. First, the astrolabe and the compass were both technological advances created to help navigate and explore the world. Also, at this time Asian spices were huge, but Italy and Egypt controlled the trade routes to Asia. Then, explorers started to sail the world, finding new routes and lands. Lastly, Christopher Columbus tried to sail to Asia in late 1492, but messed up on his way there and discovered the New World. European colonization changed the lives of Native Americans in the New World.
Trade had a major effect on European and Native American lives. The Columbian trade was a huge success in both areas, but better for
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“Then there was great destruction of American Indians by war, disease, and killing work, and the importation of [African Slaves] into Spanish America was begun in order to fill the void in the labor market,” (Columbus, Document 5). This quote explains that Native Americans were dying from diseases, wars, and killing work that Europeans had to start buying slaves from Africa just to do the work of the dead Native Americans. Moreover, Native Americans did get sick, but the diseases weren’t as bad as the ones in Europe. A drastic population decrease happened from diseases which resulted in a small amount of Native Americans left. For one reason, it was common for rodents to get on ships and getting to the new land, and rodents can carry diseases. Another reason is that Native Americans weren’t immune to these diseases and when the diseases came to the New World, their immune system and body's weren’t ready for it. Furthermore, Columbus wrote that wars had also started between them, these wars happened from land and other reasons. After Native Americans started to die, Europeans brought African slaves to replace the Native
These diseases completely wiped out the 10 million or so Native Americans on the islands and at least ½ of the more than 100 million on the mainland of North America.” The Europeans that came brought diseases that killed many Native Americans and destroyed entire empires. This
Smallpox was also a threat. One settler describes it as a “cloud over this province.” It drove off people and killed the people who stayed. It was also one of the major causes of the decline in the Native American population. There were definitely other kinds of diseases, but Smallpox was the most common.
The Columbian exchange was obviously a huge part of American history, and had huge impacts for both the European colonists and the Native Americans. The appearance of the colonists had both negative and positive effects on the native people, while the native people as well created benefits and setbacks for the Europeans. Diseases such as smallpox, influenza, and malaria killed many Native Americans. The natives immune systems were not strong enough to handle them. The Europeans were also affected by disease, as they had never been exposed to some illnesses that the Native Americans passed on to them, such as syphilis.
Spaniards unknowingly brought bacteria and viruses from the Old World that caused destructive diseases including measles, smallpox, and others. These epidemics decimated the vast majority of Native Americans in the New World. The result was a huge decline in the number of Native Americans, which effectively turned the once-dominant Native Americans into a minority on their own land to the rising number of European and African descendants. Native Americans were not the only ones who suffered. Many of Columbus’s men contracted syphilis after having sexual interactions with New World women.
The impact of the Columbian Exchange on Native American Indians in North America during the sixteenth century was that the Indians were evicted from their homelands, given diseases, and brought into a new culture that was difficult for them to adapt to. The Columbian Exchange was the exchange of new plants, animals, diseases, human populations, technology, religious beliefs, and other ideas between the triangular trade of countries America, Africa, and Europe. The trade was beneficial to the Europeans but became a death sentence for the Native American Indians. As the European urge to move to the Americas and the spread of colonization increased the willingness of the Indians to share their lands and resources decreased.
western expansion affected native American lives in so many ways, it would take a book to say it all. So just to mention a few. It affected there way of life. It affected what they believed in from there traditional teachings. They saw everything change when they couldn't figure out why they were treated so bad after they welcome everyone that landed.
Another negative effect of the Columbian Exchange was the disease that it brought to the New World, which was a leading cause of widespread death throughout the area. When the Europeans sailed across the Atlantic, they brought all of the germs that were native to the Old World, such as smallpox and tuberculosis, with them. The Europeans were not affected by this, as they had already developed an immunity to these bacteria. The natives, however, were impacted greatly by the germs that were brought to their homeland, for they had never seen viruses like the ones brought aboard European ships. Diseases spread quickly amongst indigenous peoples, killing, in some places, 100% of a population as they travelled from person to person.
In document five, it states, “Then there was great destruction of American Indians by war, disease, and killing work, and the importation of African slaves into Spanish America was begun order to fill the void in the labor market.” (Helps) This quote affected the Native Americans so much because of war, diseases, killing work, and importation of slaves. These cause is what caused the decline of Native Americans, but mostly it was diseases. Some disease were smallpox, measles, and
However, the Columbian exchange didn’t always benefit both the Native Americans and the Europeans. Diseases were also exchanged, specifically to the Native Americans. Whether the exchanges were positive or negative, the Columbian exchange had a huge global effect, both immediately after the exchange and long-term. The Columbian exchange caused inflation in Europe, change in hunting habits of Native Americans,change in farming habits within Europe, and a large decrease of Native American populations.
When the colonists arrived they somewhat knowingly spread illnesses to the unsuspecting Native Americans. “Several proven instances confirm that European settlers sometimes purposefully exterminated natives with pathogens.” (Gindin) As stated in the quote, these people were clearly knowing about the fact that these illnesses being brought overseas were extremely deadly to the Native Americans whose bodies had never been exposed to the different diseases and had no time to build up a tolerance/immune system to them as they killed so
In fact, “Native Americans died in appalling numbers, in many cases up to 90 percent of the population.” The diseases were at its worst in the Aztec and Inca Empires since the people lived close together. However, in the old world, disease related deaths were not nearly as prevalent as in the Americas. The reason for this difference is that the Native Americans had no domesticated animals (except llamas), which resulted in no acquired immunities to old world diseases.
It is estimated that approximately 95% of pre-Columbus Native Americans were killed by European diseases. Since the outbreak of the diseases spread because of the European colonization, it made conquering the Americas much easier. Health was definitely the most detrimental obstacle that the Native Americans had to face as a result of the European
Throughout the late 1400’s and the 1500’s, the world experienced many changes due to the discoveries of new lands and peoples that had been never been visited before. The new-found lands of the Americas and exploration of Africa by the Europeans led to new colonies and discoveries in both areas. It also brought different societies and cultures together that had never before communicated, causing conflict in many of these places. While the Europeans treated both the Native Americans and West Africans as inferior people, the early effects they had on the Native Americans were much worse. Beginning in the late 1400’s, many different European explorers started to look for new trade routes in the Eastern Hemisphere in order to gain economic and religious power.
As the Europeans found native along the coasts of the New World, they found them easily malleable and able to be used, so they enslaved them and those who fought back were wiped out. Europeans, as well as the Africans, had built up a resistance to many diseases such as smallpox and were therefore not really affected as much by the diseases if they became sick. However, the Native Americans had not had contact with the disease and it quickly spread rapidly and slowly helped the Spanish rid themselves of the natives so they could take control of the land. Geoffrey Cowley offers insight on just how profound the effect of smallpox was when he writes, “ ...When the newcomers arrived carrying mumps, measles, whooping cough, smallpox, cholera, gonorrhea and yellow fever, the Indians were immunologically
While the colonization of the America’s was negative for many reasons such as the spread of illnesses, and the forcing of religion upon natives, it was also beneficial to the Native’s because it allowed them to have better weapons and to have different foods and goods in their lives. The Europeans exposed the Natives to many new diseases once they colonized the new areas they discovered. The Europeans greatly impacted the family life and religion of the inhabitants of the areas they found. There was also a lot of exchange going on during the conquest of the Americas because the Natives were excited by the new gadgets they had never seen before that the Europeans brought over.