Legall_GEOG_220_CR2F2023

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University of Northern British Columbia *

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Geography

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Jan 9, 2024

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Critical Reflection #2 Nathania Legall, 230075572 November 14, 2023 Geography 220: World Regions: Latin America and the Caribbean Dr. Alexandra Pedersen I did not facilitate AI tools for this assignment.
Nathania Legall 230075572 Legall@unbc.ca Assessing the Impact of Colonialism on Infectious Diseases in the New World Since Columbus In this reflection, I will discuss Dr. George Lovell's lecture titled "Pandemic Precedent: Amerindian Demise in the wake of Columbus" and its implications. Dr. Lovell examines the arrival of Columbus and Pedro Cabral, highlighting the devastating consequences for the Indigenous populations of the Americas. The lecture emphasizes that the merging of the old and new worlds led to the largest loss of human lives in history, as European settlers introduced diseases that inflicted the Indigenous communities. I will connect this lecture to the course material by reflecting on the profound impact of colonialism on the Inca people, particularly the significant depopulation resulting from the spread of disease . The outbreak of smallpox was a direct result of the colonial process itself. The arrival of European explorers brought them into contact with new environments, animals, and peoples, which allowed for the transmission of diseases that Amerindian people had no immunity against (Lovell, 1988; p. 29). Smallpox, for example, was a highly contagious and deadly disease that Europeans had built up some immunity to over the centuries, while the Indigenous populations had not been exposed to it and therefore had no natural defenses against it (Lovell, 2023). Another factor that contributed to the veracity, and virulence of the disease outbreak was the congregation of people during the colonial period. As European colonizers settled in South America and the Caribbean, they established towns, trading posts, and other settlements a policy they called the congregacion (Lovell, 1988, p. 30). The indigenous populations were often forcibly displaced or gathered into proximity to these settlements, created crowed conditions and facilitating the rapid spread of disease. It was interesting to learn about the people of Brazil who fled to the forests, and how their displacement from the settlers allowed for a brief protection from the spread of disease, and this was a testament to how the congregating of the population
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