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Native American Downfall

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The Downfall of the Native Americans The conquistadors came to the New World to conquer the land and everything they could gain from it such as gold, money, gems, and power. While the Native Americans had a few advantages over the conquistadors, having a larger population and already having set cultures throughout their nations to name a couple the conquistadors would succeed in subduing the Native Americans. The Europeans were successful in their endeavor for a few reasons; environmental factors, technology and tactics. One of the main factors that allowed the Europeans to take over the Native Americans was diseases; smallpox, typhus, and measles being the main killers. Europeans unknowingly brought over diseases with them causing epidemics and a huge depopulation among the Native …show more content…

With the introduction of European domesticated livestock; honeybees, pigs, horses, mules, sheep, and cattle and the domesticated plants; wheat, barley, rye, oats, grasses, and grapevines there was also the introduction of pathogens, weeds, and rats. Because of the lack of labor force and the vast lands the colonists would fence in their smaller crops to reduce the amount of work leaving their livestock to freely roam around the land. This caused feral herds and the destruction of the environment that the natives relied on for survival. These animals would eat or destroy the Native Americans crops because unlike the Europeans they did not fence in their crops, if the Native Americans killed and ate the animals that ruined their crops the Europeans would want compensation for them killing their property. “By a mix of design and accident, the newcomers triggered a cascade of processes that alienated the land, literally and figuratively, from its indigenous people.” (Taylor, American Colonies,

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