Impact Of Native American Life Before The Columbian Exchange

The Renaissance fostered creative thinking and curiosity. As the population slowly increased, economic prosperity created powerful new incentives for exploration and trade. The Europeans were thus pushed to go out and explore in search of items for trade. The trade of plants and animals between the lands greatly affected both cultures. For example, the reintroduction of the Horse to the Native American life made Indians in many tribes dependent on this new creature. Used for hunting, fighting, farming, and so much more, the horse quickly became a staple in Native American culture. Equally dramatic was the effect of American crops, specifically Maize, on European and African societies. This crop revolutionized the diets of both plants and animals. An unintended effect of all the trade was trade of diseases, which drastically reduced the Native American population size. Within fifty years of the first contact, European and African diseases nearly exterminated the native population of Hispaniola and devastated the densely populated Valley of

The Columbian Exchange was one of the most important and lasting events in history. It was a time when two different worlds came into contact with one another, causing a widespread influence and exchange of several ideas, technological advancements, nourishment items, and much more. Cultures and ways of life fused and mixed, and several new things were shared and learned by both the Europeans of the Old World, and the Native Americans of the New World. However, none of this went on without unintended consequences. From deadly diseases to gaining new foods, like much of history, the Columbian Exchange had its good and bad moments, some of which were not intended to happen. Although there were several actions that caused unintentional events, by far one of the most important consequences that should be known is how guns affected Native Americans.

There were a large amount of Native Americans before the arrival of Europeans. Before reading 1491 by Charles C. Mann, I believed that there were only a small amount of people in the Americas. According to Henry F. Dobyns, the “Western Hemisphere held 90 to 112 million people”, which was more than the amount of people living in Europe.

We helped influence the Natives to move to a hunting based lifestyle instead of nomadic. In addition to this the cultures from different continents have been changed because of Columbus. We can 't forget though that he brought theses diseases throughout the continents he traveled to. Christopher Columbus Biography explains "The exchange also brought new diseases to both hemispheres, though the effects were greatest in the Americans. Smallpox from the Old World decimated millions of the Native American population" The diseases were new to both the Europeans and the Americans because it was the first time they had experienced this type of diseases. It was very new to both of them at the time, so they didn 't know how to handle it or let alone cure it so they suffered. The Americans suffered the most from these diseases. In effect of the Americans suffering from these diseases, the Europeans ended up out numbering them in a very big margin. In addition, the exchange benefited the Europeans more the Americans and the rest of the world a part of the exchange. American was changed and pretty much gone plus the Native Americans disappeared too. All this happened because he made promises he couldn 't keep like bringing home a certain amount gold so instead, he brought to trade with slaves who carried the disease to the Americans and Europeans.

Tomatoes, chocolate, potatoes, corn, green beans, peanuts, vanilla,pineapple, and turkey transformed the European diet, while Europeans introducedsugar, cattle, pigs, cloves, ginger, cardamom, and almonds to the Americas. Even the natural environment was transformed. Two consequences of contact were death and disease. Diseases against which Indian peoples had no natural immunities caused the greatest mass deaths in human history. With the Indian population decimated by disease, Europeans introduced a new labor force into the New World, enslaved Africans.

European migration vastly affected the Native population in areas such as family life, religion, and food. Diseases had been transmitted and spread throughout rapidly. When they began to explore and settle they had introduced epidemics such as smallpox. Native americans were not in better health and had no immunity to these diseases. They had also caused a disruption in their food supply.

During this time, the Americas had been isolated from the rest of the world and away from all its unknown diseases. When the discovery of the New World led to Europeans coming to dominate the Americas, the Native Americans did not stand a chance against the many diseases the Europeans brought. Diseases such as malaria, smallpox, and yellow fever were brought to the Americas and in turn started to decline the population of the Native Americans. The Europeans had the advantage where they were able to wipe out the natives with their diseases and take over the

Half of the states in the United States recognize and observe Columbus Day as a federal holiday (“officeholidays”). There has always been a controversy involving the celebration and glorification of European settlers from the Age of Exploration. This controversial subject has led to a divide between the country, and different ethnic groups. European settlers from the Age of Exploration should be celebrated in modern times because of the many societal concepts they introduced to the Native American which embarked new systems and procedures which are still practiced today. Take the Columbian Exchange as an example, this system was implemented by European settlers, and benefitted many people including the current empires at that time. Additionally, European settlers ended inhumane practices of the Native Americans, such as human sacrifice. In result of this, new concepts and beliefs were introduced to the Native Americans which aided many. In spite, of the diseases carried at this time by the settler that killed many Native American tribes, this should not be considered to be an argument, since the Spanish were not cognizant of the germs and bacteria they were carrying.

Period 4, interest me because it when the world come together the negative part in that was that native people in Americas died. Some natives died do to being enslaved and those not being immune to the diseases Europeans brought with them. The trade with the new and old world was good but doesn’t make up for people dying.

The native tribes lived separately from the influence of European nations, so they had a much different culture that European’s viewed as uncivilized. The indigenous people adapted to their natural environment hunting, fishing, and implementing agriculture to provide for their basic needs. Tribes competed for hunting and fishing territory, but they did not associate the land with private ownership like that of the European culture (Scott et al., 2006). Also, each tribe had their own language and religious practices.

In summation, the Native Americans were greatly affected and impacted by the exploration and colonization of their land. They learned new things that they valued and viewed as important, they were also killed and separated as a result of the Europeans’ thirst for riches. The natives also had their culture destroyed and were forced to change by the colonizers so they could fit their standards. Although some aspects of the Native American culture were barbaric and harsh it worked for them and their ancestors. Having the newcomers interrupt their lives even thought they were doing just fine showed how the Europeans did not care about anyone else as long as they got what they wanted. It also showed how little the natives’ lives mattered to

In 1500 Brazil was claimed by a Portuguese explorer named Pedro Alvarez Cabral. Only a few years later Hernando Cortez, a Spanish explorer, claimed what we now know as Mexico and in 1521 he and 600 other men conquered the Aztec empire. As if their advance weapons were not enough, diseases they brought became deadlier to the native people than wars themselves. Eventually, colonization became a competition between countries to see who could own the most colonies, the most gold and profit the most. So, in 1532 Fransisco Pizzaro lead the Spanish forces in Peru and defeated the Inca empire. They also came up with a system to have the native people work for them without paying them or if they did pay them, they paid very little, this was known as the encomienda system. The native people were so abused and mistreated that catholic priest protested against the system and finally in 1542 the encomienda system was abolished. However, the mistreatment and abuse still continued in other places and not only to Native

Following Columbus’s discovery of the Americas, New and Old World crops traveled across the Atlantic and found new homes. Europe’s favorite introduced food was maize because grew well in land unsuitable for Eurasia staples and produced a higher yield. Although it was not accepted as well as corn, potatoes had similar benefits. The new crops increased food production in the eastern hemisphere along with its population. On the other hand, the Americas did not reap many benefits. Diseases from Europe killed the native tribes, who were not immune. While the population of American Indians shrunk the New World’s sugar cane production grew. As a result, more African slaves were brought to work the factories and harvest the cane. Ultimately, the

The Spanish colonization all began with Columbus in 1492 and advancing for nearly 350 years. Spain conquered and settled most of South America and the Caribbean. Accordingly, it all started when Columbus had been searching for a new route to the Indies. Columbus was sure that he had found it, so he continued his voyages. Settlements by the Spanish that were found earlier were on the islands of the Caribbean. On Columbus’s fourth and final voyage in he found a large canoe off the coast of what is now Honduras filled with trade goods. He boarded the canoe and rifled through the cargo which included cacao beans, copper, flint axes, copper bells, pottery, and colorful cotton garments. He took one prisoner and what he wanted from the cargo and let the canoe continue. This was the first contact that the Spanish had with the civilizations of Central America, and this would further influence the Spanish. Another thing that erupted was The Treaty of Tordesillas, which was an attempt

When Columbus landed in the New World, he thought that he had found the West Indies but in reality he had discovered the Americas. During his first encounter with the inhabitants that he had referred to as“Indians”, he showed them a sword and “they took it by the edge and cut themselves out of ignorance” (Document 1). It would be Columbus’s first impression of these New World occupants that would lead to future horrible events. The Columbian Exchange was not an overall positive event for the New World because Columbus and his spanish conquerors inflicted an appalling amount of death, destruction and war like ideas and behaviors to a land that had been previously peaceful and fertile.