Causes Of De-Population In America

From David Jones’ point of view, it is important to note that these epidemics were just some of the causes of population decline during European contact. Poverty, environmental stress, massacres, dislocation, malnutrition, and destruction of traditional subsistence patterns also changed the composition of many Native American groups. Eventually, these changes caused substantial depopulation and cultural change. Jones agrees that disease carried a decisive role; however, he argues that it is not the key factor in their depopulation. “Many factors contributed to American Indian susceptibility to Old World diseases, including lack of childhood exposure, malnutrition, and the social chaos generated by European colonization” (Jones 34).

Upon Columbus’ first contact with the Americas, the Indian population was immediately threatened. With as many as 80 million at the population’s highest, this number sharply declined as more Europeans began exploring more land. Since Columbus’ first visit, the population was decimated to only 4.5 million. One of the biggest causes for outbreak was the advent of the Columbian Exchange. This transatlantic trade introduced

Was disease the key factor in the depopulation of Native Americans in the Americas? There can be no denying that disease played its role in the depopulation of the Americas. Populace tribes went from tens of thousands to hundreds in a matter of years. But the question here is was it the “key” factor or did something else cause their demise?

Culture wasn’t the only thing that the Europeans brought over to the Americas. Along with their customs and rules, came the diseases that the Native American’s have never been exposed to. The Europeans brought many communicable diseases such as small pox and measles which were transmitted to the Native Americans through trade goods or someone infected with them. This quickly annihilated most of the Native American population.

There is data to suggest that around the beginning of the 16th Century, there were approximately 18 million Native Americans living in North America. By 1900 the population of the Indigenous peoples had declined to about 250,000. The common belief has been that this rapid decrease in population has been due to the disease that Europeans brought with them when they migrated to the “new world”. Historian Alfred W. Crosby writes that “it is highly probable that the greatest killer was epidemic disease, especially as manifested in virgin soil epidemics.” Many reports and essays focus on disease as the main killer of the Indigenous population, but few often look at how the European and Indigenous population responded to disease. The questions

Crops from the New World were also brought to Europe. Because of the surplus in crops, the Indians gave the Europeans a lot of crops in exchange for manufactured goods, which negatively impacted the Indians because they would run out of crops eventually (Doc. 7). With manufactured goods, the Europeans brought smallpox, influenza, typhus, measles, malaria, diphtheria, and whooping cough. The Indians taught the colonial men about tobacco and cocaine, therefore both parties suffered health issues. Over the course of a decade the population of the Indians declined from over 25 millions to just about 1 million people (Doc.

epidemics to childhood ills." (6) It was in this form that diseases were carried to

Some things that caused the rapid decline in population among Native Americans after the Europeans arrived are disease, warfare, and migration.

People were living in a time with very little medicine to help fight disease that was responsible for the death of many people. Before people from around the world began settling in the New World, disease and sickness was under control. The Native Americans were immune to common sickness that was commonly present since they were born. Being immune to a sickness means your body is already resistant to the infection and has the proper needs to fight the infection. When settlers came from Europe, they were carriers of different diseases and that they are immune to. When they came in contact with the Native Americans, they spread diseases like smallpox, measles, chicken pox, malaria, yellow fever, and influenza. These are strong diseases that the Native Americans were not immune to. Ninety five percent of the Native Americans in North America were killed by these diseases brought over from the Old

Devastation is defined as great destruction or damage done to something or someone.(Google.com) Not only did the Age of Exploration bring great joys of new land and new people, but it also brought lots of massacre and devastation. The age of exploration and European Colonization is considered a tragedy because two populations of people lost their culture and lost many of their people. Multiple reasons for this are, African slaves were taken from their homelands and separated from their families, many natives died, and many natives lost their culture. One of the worst reason that The Age of Exploration and European Colonization is considered a tragedy because Africans were taken from their homelands and were separated from their families.

As a result, the diseases that were transferred from Europe decreased a large amount of native Americans’ populations..

Along with overworking and their genetically weak immune systems, the Native Americans were prone to injury. As people had continued to transport through the trade routes, disease began to spread amongst the Native Americans and the population growth had become stunned. In less than 100 years after the Spanish had found North America, the Indian population fell by approximately twenty-four million. The death of the majority population enabled the settlers to easily conquer the Native American land for themselves.

Problems with the Europeans really caused a major problem for the spread of disease. Now because they didn’t have enough food they made the Indians work twice as hard just to get them enough corn to feed them. Women were in charge of all the agricultural work so now they had even more responsibility. So now the Indians were growing tired but they knew the English weren’t leaving anytime soon.

began to kill of the native people. Diseases such as small pox and typhus caused a decline in the

In addition to mistreatment, the natives were met with harsh labor from the spanish people. As a result the population went down drastically, between the natives struggling to procreate and dying due to the awful conditions. According to Bartolome de Las Casas, a Dominican friar, “When they met they were so exhausted and depressed on both sides that they had...ceased to procreate.” The grueling tasks given to the natives everyday caused them to lack energy and motivation, giving them no desire to procreate. They also were reluctant to bring children into the world, since the children were just going to be put to work as soon as they were born. This is important because the population of natives decreased dramatically because of the fact that they would not procreate. It was not just the lack of children being born that caused this sudden decrease, however. The natives often died while working, either from taking their own lives or being overworked. Bartolome de Las Casas also said, “they poisoned themselves with yucca juice; or died of hunger and overwork, delicate as they were.” (Document #8). This also contributes to the decrease in Native Americans. They were so hungry and worn they either died naturally or killed themselves because of how depressed they were from the terrible