Spanish America Chapter 1 – Section 2

Impact of Columbus’ discovery When did Columbus set sail? Where did Columbus sail from? What were the names of the ships? Why did Columbus set sail? Where was he going? Why? How did the journey go? Did he achieve what he was wanting to achieve?

Impact on Native Americans Europeans were learning of the profitability of the plantation system – relying on what? Economic benefit of using local forced labor Disease – Europeans, unknowingly brought measles, mumps, chickenpox, smallpox, typhus and others. The local people had no built-up natural immunity to these diseases yet.

Impact on Africans With decline of native work force, labor was needed from elsewhere. Slave trade exploded, especially in Western Africa Over the next 300 years (1500-1800) almost 10 million people were taken

Impact on Europeans Europeans began to cross the Atlantic creating one of the largest voluntary migrations in world history. Overseas expansion inflamed national rivalries in Europe causing conflict. Treaty of Tordesillas, 1494 Growth of trade markets completely changed the world FOREVER.

Columbian Exchange New World crops maize (corn), vanilla, white/sweet potatoes, squash (incl. pumpkin), manioc/cassava, tobacco, peanuts, tomatoes, pineapples, papaya, avocados  Old World crops rice, wheat, barley oats, rye, turnips onions, cabbage lettuce, peaches pears, sugar, olives, bananas

Columbian Exchange New World domesticated animals dogs llamas guinea pigs fowl (a few species) Old World domesticated animals dogs horses donkeys pigs cattle goats sheep barnyard fowl

The Exchange can be positive or negative in its effects In the exchange that started along the coast of Newfoundland and was made widespread by Columbus, disease was the most negative for the Native American population Fatality rate over a period of two to three generations was 95% for many tribal groups In some cases, as in the Mohegans case, the fatality rate could be 100%

Europeans believed that it was God’s will that Indians died No germ theory at the time of contact. Illness in Europe was considered to be the consequence of sin Indians, who were largely “heathen” or non-Christian were regarded as sinners thus subject to illness as a punishment

New World Microbes Not all pathogens traveled from Europe to the Americas Syphilis, polio, hepatitis and encephalitis were new world diseases African slaves were less vulnerable to European diseases than were Indians Europeans succumbed to Malaria easily

Old World Diseases European disease was particularly virulent Smallpox, measles, diphtheria, whooping cough, chicken pox, bubonic plague, scarlet fever and influenza were the most common diseases Nearly all of the European diseases were communicable by air and touch. The pathway of these diseases was invisible to both Indians and Europeans

Disease raced ahead of people In most cases, Indian peoples became sick even before they had direct contact with Europeans Trade goods that traveled from tribe to tribe though middlemen were often the source There is little or no evidence to think that Europeans intentionally infected trade items for trade with Indians to kill them

Mainland outbreaks Diseases, especially smallpox, were transported from the Caribbean to the mainland by the Cortez expedition in the 1630s A sick African infected the Aztecs of Mexico City Incubation of smallpox is 14 days—this causes the disease to spread over great distances Smallpox killed half the Iroquois populations in 1738 and again in 1759 Entire tribe of Mandans died during the winter of 1837-1838

Conclusion All of these exchanges then, of microbes, plants and animals had a dramatic effect on the environment of the New World, and by extension, a dramatic, and often negative effect on the economies and cultures of Indian peoples.