Introduction Of Smallpoxs To The New World

I myself, like many others, have never heard of the Cahokia Mounds, or the civilization that created them. After reading about the people and their way of life I was quite amazed. How interesting to think that the Cahokia leader, the Great Sun, would howl at the sun every morning on top of a 15-acre ceremonial mound. I was most surprised that such a civilized and developed group of group could be completely wiped out.

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.

Diseases only found in the European world, such as smallpox, spread to the Americas due to people migrating with these diseases. Since natives did not have diseases like these, they were easily killed off by them. These diseases ended up killing 90 percent of the population native to America. The large number of deaths allowed the conquistadors to greatly outnumber indigenous people and easily capture the now weak tribes. Some may point out that the American diseases must have also affected the Europeans. However, due to the fact that many Europeans and their ancestors had worked with animals and in dirty places, many had already built up strong immunities to new diseases. This resulted in insignificant deaths of Europeans. Therefore, one of the major reasons for the victory of the Europeans over Americans was the biological weapon of 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.

The early modern era was a time when empires thrived across the globe. The Western Europeans were not the only ones to construct successful empires either. The Russian, Chinese, Mughal, and Ottoman empires added to this phenomenon. Although these empires share many similarities, they also have their differences. During the time, 1450 CE -1750 CE, European empires in the Americas and their Russian, Chinese, Mughal, and Ottoman counterparts are similar in that they all thrived and united diverse peoples and different in that European empires developed something entirely new, an interacting Atlantic World, while the other empires continued older patterns of historical development.

Although many history classes have taught us that Native American societies were primitive, Charles Mann along with other historians argued that Native Americans did possessed a complexed history prior to Columbus, closer examination shows that they had large rich societies in, architecture, and agriculture. Mann believes the “Indian” population was larger, and their societies more accomplished, than was earlier believed. He estimates 40-60 million, but the count keeps rising. Another false belief was that the Indians lived on the land without touching it. In fact, they used "slash and burn" to clear and create grasslands for cultivation. In the north, Indians also used this method to pushed back the hordes of bison, deer and passenger

Diseases such as diphtheria, the bubonic plague, influenza, typhus, and scarlet fever were scattered throughout the New World as the Europeans settled inland. The Native Americans who had little to no resistance against these diseases succumbed. It is estimated around 90% of Native Americans population perished due to the diseases listed above. However the explorers weren’t the sole transmitters these diseases. Critters and livestock like mosquitoes, black rats and chickens that migrated along with the Europeans also carried the bacteria. The contagions held by these creatures consisted of: measles, chicken pox, malaria and yellow fever. Some American diseases that were transferred back to the old world include Chagas disease and supposedly, Syphilis. Although they did have some impact on European populous the effects were seemingly insignificant compared to the impact of the European diseases on the Native

On October 12, 1492, an Italian merchant by the name of Christopher Columbus landed on an island in the New World. With him he brought three ships and a small crew of Spaniards. After exploring other islands, Columbus came one that he called Hispaniola; here, they found seemingly primitive and naϊve natives that they immediately began to take advantage of. However, little did they know that this first meeting would bring exploration of South and Central America that would wreak havok among the Natives. Throughout the period of European Expansion, Natives were ripped from their home and forced to work day in and day out. Almost every single person from the New World, whether a slave or not, was seriously impacted by the spread of diseases.Furthermore,

Christopher Columbus is a Villain. On some accounts he can be a Hero. But on many other accounts he's a vicious Villain. Yes he discovered America ; Yes we have a holiday that commemorates the landing of Christopher Columbus in the New World on October 12, 1492. But here are some reasons to why he's a evil man.

The Colonisation of Latin America had a major negative impact on these indigenous people as the arrival in Latin America collided with 12,000 years of isolation from Eurasia which imposed many diseases on the natives. The natives were unable to fight of these diseases as they did not have the immune system for these types of sickness nor the appropriate medicine so many of them died as a result. These diseases included small pox, measles and influenza, bubonic plagues, cholera and tropical

A major issue that faced native populations of the New World was the fact that the Europeans introduced foreign animals that carried diseases the natives had never seen before. Specifically in Mexico and Peru, the natives had alpacas and llamas in small and isolated groups, so diseases were not able to originate in them [McNeil 178]. On the other hand, the animals that the Europeans brought over, such as cattle,

Syphilis is the major disease that came to Europe. Its symptoms included genital ulcers, rashes, severe pain, large tumor, and eventually death. Although people cannot be meticulously sure of where this deadly diseases came from, there are two theories. The first is that Syphilis originated from the New World and began spreading by Columbus and his. Christopher Columbus and his crew would have acquired the disease from the inhabitants of Hispaniola through sexual contact. Once the sailors returned home, they spread it throughout Europe. Not only did the disease reach Europe but also Russia, Hungary, Africa, the Middle East, among other places throughout the Old World. The second theory is that the disease had always existed in the Old World but that there had been records before the 1490s because the difference between other diseases had not been noticed. Recent discoveries of the bacterium that caused syphilis was found in a region of Guyana, South America. After much research it was proven that this deadly disease was truly from the New World which disproves the second

With them came smallpox, measles, chicken pox, influenza, and many other diseases. “Before the arrival of Columbus, Native American disease wasn’t dominant in the land. Due to the lack of exposure of disease in their younger years, Native Americans were vulnerable to the European diseases that would come with the Columbian Exchange. The diseases would soon destroy many societies of the ancient Aztec, Maya, and Inca. Through many estimates it is foreseen that alien diseases caused over 50% deaths of the Native American population. On the other hand, Europeans didn’t have the same effect when they came in contact with these diseases. Exposed to the diseases at an early age, Europeans were mostly to fully immune. With the devastating effects of disease, native culture was starting to change. Persuaded that their native gods have abandoned them, many natives converted to Christianity. Forced by disease, natives usually married relatives that survived the diseases since appropriate partners were scarce. Furthermore, disease also influenced the African Slave Trade to the Americas. With Africans being immune to Old World diseases other than the Native Americans, many Europeans preferred the African as the better slave.”(The Great Disease Migration)

The Columbian Exchange occurred when Columbus arrived in the new world and disease, culture, crops, and animals were traded. This swap caused the great biological exchange. When the Spanish and later English came over to the new world along with crops and animals they also brought disease. Europeans, living among many diseases, had built immunity to the ailment, but since the natives had never been exposed to the illnesses they had no immunity and the disease quickly spread. The Europeans, unintentionally, started an epidemic that would spread throughout the Americas and single handedly kill millions of Natives. Europeans brought diseases such as cholera, malaria, measles, mumps, smallpox, typhoid, and yellow fever to name a few. The only known disease that the Natives probably had was syphilis. Although the Europeans inadvertently shared their diseases they did share other

Many years ago, a continental drift split North and South America from Eurasia and Africa. As they remained separated, new species of plants and animals developed and evolved on each continent. The Columbian Exchange was a period of physical exchanges between the Old and New worlds. The Old and the New worlds exchanged diseases, populations, crops, and animals. All of these exchanges were brought to the Americas after Christopher Columbus’ voyage to the Americas. These exchanges had a drastic effect on the Native Americans in the New world.