Summary: The Influence Of The First Fleet

Many artifacts offer clues to prove that there were illnesses, diseases, and some medical treatments/procedures present in the community. It it clear that illnesses and disease had a huge impact on the settlers of Jamestown because by January 1608, 60% of settlers were dead due to illnesses/disease. This was due to the lack of knowledge regarding germs and bacteria. Diseases such as dysentery, typhoid, and salt poisoning were the biggest killers during the first few years of the Jamestown settlement. Molars found at the Jamestown excavation site also reveal advanced periodontal disease plagued many of the settlers.

As our textbook describes, “At one time only seven were well enough to the lay the dead in their frosty graves.” (44.) The colonists were not the only ones who were suffering from unique sicknesses, as the Indians were being exposed and introduced to all kinds of new diseases from the settlers. Before the Pilgrims even arrived in Plymouth, the local Indians were already weak and had been torn apart by epidemics. This was because Native Americans in the southeast most likely came into contact with the English fisherman, which allowed disease to spread up the coast. The textbook describes the situation after these epidemics swept through, “deserted Indian fields, ready for tillage… scattered skulls and bones provided grim evidence of the impact of the evidence of the disease.” (48). This shows how much of an impact the disease had on the Natives and how gruesomely the textbook shows this, and it displays the textbook’s cynical approach. In the novel there is not as much gruesome detail about the sickness that the colonists bring with them, but Caleb’s father does get very sick with Measles. Even though there was most certainly disease all around Caleb’s people, as well as Bethia’s, it was never mentioned by either of them, which shows how the novel softens the ‘violent’ nature of disease that was rampant at this

Before the First Fleet, consisting of eleven ships, arrived in Botany Bay on the 26th of January 1788, it is known that there were approximately 750 000 Aboriginals living in Australia. Today there are only about 250 000 (Harding, 2001). They all made many, both positive and negative impacts on the Aboriginals. Whilst they brought several diseases which wiped out much of the population and kidnapped many Aboriginal people, the British also showed many technologies to the Native people and introduced them to the modern world.

Theodore Roosevelt was renowned for his foreign policy that stated: speak softly and carry a big stick. This meant that Roosevelt handled foreign affairs with a tranquil state of mind, but also threatened with the military if things did not go as planned. Roosevelt utilized this ideology to navigate America in the right direction. The Great White Fleet abided by this policy, specifically. From 1907 to 1909, the fleet sailed the seas and made history. Not only did this publicity stunt grant America the respect Roosevelt had hoped for, but it also altered world affairs significantly.

It was a hard life for most people that were on the first fleet going to Australia. Convicts could either start a new life or leave back to there home. Officers could leave whenever they want or they could stay and the aborigines had no choice, but to move or be killed. The settlement of Australia was both a beginning and end for convicts.

White Settlers wanted to expand with growing population. There were valuable resources in these lands that have not yet been touched. White Settlers wanted

Before Europeans ever ventured to North America, the land had been populated by Native American nations that had their own distinct cultures and social structures. Native Americans had trade routes and established complex relationships between tribes. They were not merely heathens waiting to be civilized by the Europeans. Yet, Europeans would use those justifications to lay claim on their land.

-White settlement affected the Indigenous people in a number of ways”{They} made them (the Aboriginals) outcasts on their own land*” by calling it terra nullius under the English Law, despite knowing the existence of the Aboriginals. Terra nullius is a latin term that means “land that belongs to no one.”They believed it belonged to no one because the Aboriginals didn’t use the land in the same way as the British. The Aboriginals believed that Mother Nature would provide them with what they needed, so they didn’t need to hunt and mark the land. The British completely ignored the deep spiritual connections the Aboriginals had with the land. They cut down trees, put up fences and built towns. They believed they had to own the land. But the Aboriginals were outraged when saw the settlers building farms where they had originally been hunting and gathering at, this was because there wasn’t enough food for them. They killed many white settlers in revenge and a clash of cultures began. Pemulwuy was an Aboriginal warrior that lead raids against the British. He also speared John McIntyre, Governor Phillip's gamekeeper, in December 1790. When the Indigenous people resisted the British, it lead to many conflicts which eventually left a irreversible damage to the lives of Indigenous people.

It is well studied by health authorities that the current health statistics of the Indigenous population today are clearly reflected on their health status, due to the impacts of the colonisation process. The relating problems associated with this have resulted in destructive families and communities. It is unquestionable that Indigenous Australians were adapted to the environment in which people lived and had control on every feature of their life during the colonisation period. According to ‘The Deplorable State of Aboriginal Ill Health, Chapter 1’ (2014), studies that show that numerous infectious diseases; such as, smallpox and the flu, were not present in the pre-invasion period. It is also shown that lifestyle diseases such as high BP, diabetes and heart diseases were not known to exist.

Before white settlement, Native Americans used the land and its plentiful resources at their disposal. Within their villages, they claimed land frequently and the right to use it while never truly “[owning] the land itself” (Page 9). As settlers were being introduced to this new land, Native Americans were inevitably and reluctantly pushed out of their homes. With the taking of their land, the Native Americans collectively began their fight to reserve settlements for agriculture in addition to their homes. Governor Berkeley attempted to aid in this fight by not allowing white settlement in Native American territory; however, his opponents often disregarded his

This was assumed because the Aboriginals had not cultivated the land, so it

These Aboriginals traditionally owned land on a group or tribal basis according to birthright. To the Aborigines, Australia was a part of their very being and it was very sacred. Since these indigenous people were a part of a tribe they were entitled to dwell on a designated area of the land and to utilize its natural resources. However, as time has elapsed many tribal groups’ languages and cultures had been wiped out by white settlement (Barta, 2008, 519). This occurred because no one really owned the land, ‘Terra Nullius’, which then caused Europeans to dismiss the fact that the land was inhabited by the

These illnesses were thought of as fatal to the Aboriginal population due to their lack of immunity. Numerous Aboriginal people died from smallpox, measles, influenza, and mumps, which caused populations to deplete (58). From this, it can be assumed that numerous important Elders and Chiefs were lost during this tragic time. Further, Aboriginal people thought of the European medication as poison and would depend on their home remedies to cure their illnesses.

Now, when it came to ownership of the land the Native Americans were known for hunting so, they needed their hunting land as well as land to grow crops. They were open for sharing land, “The South’s native people had well-defined hunting territories, fishing grounds, and agricultural plots which they vigorously defended against encroachment. However, they did not regard land as property that could be transferred in perpetuity to another individual or group”. However, the Europeans did not think the land should be shared. So, when they came over they took the land away from the

Native Americans never came in contact with diseases that developed in the Old World because they were separated from Asia, Africa, and Europe when ocean levels rose following the end of the last Ice Age. Diseases like smallpox, measles, pneumonia, influenza, and malaria were unknown to