Invisible Population Loss

Massive demographic catastrophe occurred wherever Europeans made contact with indigenous Americans. Within his The Columbian Exchange, Alfred Crosby writes: “When the isolation of the New World was broken, when Columbus brought the two halves of the planet together, the American Indian met for the first time his most hideous enemy: not the white man nor his black servant, but the invisible killers which those men brought in their blood and breath” (Crosby, 31). It was common to see a drop of 90 percent or more in native populations after the arrival of the Europeans (Than). European pandemics such as smallpox would severely depopulate or wipe out many natives of the Americas. This idea of the Columbian Exchange, the enormous widespread

With the Spaniards venturing to the Americas during their conquest, they unintentionally brought diseases along with them. While this could have been little to no issue, it turned into a massive killer for the natives due to them not having the tolerance against them like the Spaniards did. The “...epidemic of smallpox..” took cities by storm and caused deaths that could easily have been avoided (The Broken Spears, 92). This “... terrible plague that… spread throughout the city” weakened the natives to the point where “...no one could walk or move”, leaving them helpless and unable to take care of themselves (The Broken Spears, 91-93). This tragedy may not have been directly the fault of the Spaniards, considering spreading a disease was more than likely not their top priority, however, it is something that caused the natives great deals of pain and suffering over the course of the Spaniards’ conquest and demonstrated how little the Spaniards cared about the Native Americans and their

As European settlers witnessed the declining health of Native Americans to diseases believed to be endemic on American soil, colonists conceived that Native Americans’ mortality resulted from their bodily

No other transformation was more measurable in the west was the Assault on Indian way of life caught by miners and settlers who grasped their homes and federal Government extortion, (Doc C) by the 1890s Native Americans reservations had been the aftereffect on Most Indians, natives effortlessly combated to preserve their assets. Bison and buffalo had been their Linked article commonly utilizing it for food, clothing and trade. Promptly of the millions of

Manifest Destiny was the term used by John O’Sullivan to describe America’s desire to expand West due to reasons including both the vast amount of unclaimed land and the opportunities Americans wanted to explore. During this time, Americans believed that it was their God-given right to expand West, and therefore they were entitled to push away any groups that were in their way. Due to the mindset that the Americans could do as they pleased with the groups of people who got in their way, Manifest Destiny affected many groups of people, including the American Indians and Slaves, and continued to build up the preexisting tension between the North and South. One of the groups of people affected greatly by Manifest Destiny were the Native Americans. Manifest Destiny affected the American Indians by spreading foreign diseases to them as they moved Westward, through the Native American territory.

The Europeans came to America for many reasons but the biggest was wealth. One thing they brought with them was smallpox which had disastrous effects because the Cherokee’s immune system was never introduced to the disease. The medicine men were incapable of finding a cure so they went to the traditional purification treatment, sitting in sweat houses before wading in the chilling streams. This treatment only increased the number of deaths which was around 7,000 to 10,000 Cherokees. The Cherokees tribe suffered heavy losses due to the illness and at the end nearly half of the tribe was dead.

Since Native Americans have a high rate of poverty they suffer more when it comes to health problems. It was stated that if healthcare providers were to take the time to learn about Native American culture, while also spending time within their communities. Native Americans would be more open to letting healthcare providers help take care of them when it is needed. In the end it is up to the healthcare provided to gain their trust so that we would be able to help them

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.

Among the many things spread and shared in the Columbian Exchange, the trading of diseases is perhaps the most significant. The natives of the Americas had never experienced the serious diseases that European explorers carried over to the New World. From smallpox to influenza and malaria to cholera, Native American populations were drastically decreased due to their poor immunity. Between the numerous amounts of European diseases, though, measles was the most remarkable in that its effects were both widespread and enduring. Measles, also known as rubeola, is a respiratory infection caused by the measles virus.

Historians differ on what they think about the net result of the European arrival in the New World. Considering that the Columbian Exchange, which refers to “exchange of plants, animals, people, disease, and culture between Afro-Eurasia and the Americas after Columbus sailed to the Americas in 1492,” led to possibly tens of millions of deaths on the side of the American Indians, but also enabled agricultural and technological trade (Henretta et al. 42), I cannot help but reflect on whether the effects should be addressed as a historical or a moral question. The impact that European contact had on the indigenous populations of North America should be understood as a moral question because first, treating it as a historical question is difficult due to lack of reliable historical evidence; second, the meaning of compelling historical claims is contestable as the academic historian perspective tends to view the American Indian oral history as invalid; and finally, what happened to the native Indians is morally repulsive and must be discussed as such. The consequences of European contact should be answered as a moral question because historically, it is hard to be historically objective in the absence of valid and dependable historical evidence.

(document 12) The journey Columbus took spanned months so they almost certainly brought medicine. The reason Columbus didn’t help them was unknown but a known fact is that he didn’t bother to help them. Finally, the native American population got decreased by more than 24 million because of Columbus’ actions. The graph in document 13 show a decrease in the Native American population by 24 million people.

The European conquerors had built up an immunity to certain diseases that were common in Europe. Some of the diseases that decimated the Indian population included the following: smallpox, measles, influenza, typhus, and the bubonic plague. Centuries of living near livestock had basically inoculated the European settlers against these diseases. However the Indians were not used to such diseases, resulting in a dramatic decline in the Native American population. According to Diamond, smallpox was a major role in the domination of the Americas by the Europeans.

“1491” Questions 1. Two scholars, Erikson and William Balée believe that almost all aspects of Native American life have been perceived wrong. Although some refuse to believe this, it has been proven to be the truth. Throughout Charles C. Mann’s article from The Atlantic, “1491”, he discusses three main points: how many things that are viewed as facts about the natives are actually not true, the dispute between the high and low counters, and the importance of the role disease played in the history of the Americas. When the term “Native American” is heard, the average person tends to often relate that to a savage hunter who tries to minimize their impact on their surrounding environment.

For example, the smallpox vaccination was often thought of as a threat by the Native American people. Even in 1796 when Edward Jenner’s demonstration showed how the vaccine helped, the Native Americans still often refused it. They thought it was a way for the “white” people to harm them. After many natives refused to receive the vaccine several died.

There were very few Native Americans and they were being killed off because they were living on land that supposedly needed to be built on. In Touring Indian Country it describes the fear of Native Americans that many had when traveling west, but was not actually the case because there were very few tribes with a meager population. The Touring Indian Country exemplifies people’s fear of Native Americans and the lengths people took to destroy or stay away from Native Americans. The Native Americans population was dwindling because of the diseases that were spread by the Europeans, and because of the advanced technology of Europeans in which gave them guns instead of bows and arrows. The Indian Removal Act also supports this idea because it removed around 50,000 Native Americans (Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw and others from their home) to Indian Territory (present day Oklahoma).