ipl-logo

Essay On Native American Diseases

658 Words3 Pages

Diseases:
Even though through the Columbian Exchange we were able to gain many great materials and much knowledge about the other people who occupy our planet, many diseases where transferred to the Native Americans. Native Americans had not had the chance to gain an immunity to the different diseases that the Europeans had already come in contact with. This caused major issues when death started to treat the Native Americans like a close friend.
Arrival and Introduction:
Christopher Columbus, a great discoverer and also a carrier of diseases not known to almost wipe out a race. Estimated that diseases of the Old World hit the New World by 1518 by the Spanish (they refuse to claim it their fault through, even though all evidence points to them),and …show more content…

Even though it has been eradicated, it still posed a huge threat to the Native Americans 500 years ago. This disease not only eventually killed it also caused blindness and disfigured many. Even though the disease hurt humans it is actually believed to have originated from either cows or monkeys, some even claim it was brought over from Africa by slaves. Even though early Europeans didn’t understand the disease that well, but they knew quarintation would be necessary, and put that method to use. Even though small pox helped Europeans fight over land, gold, and women, it was only recorded to once be used on purpose. Lord Jeffrey Amherst, gave blankets as gifts to the Natives without their knowing of the disease that was waiting to attack their unprepared immune system.
Vice Versa
While the Americas suffered a great loss due to disease transferred by the Europeans, Europe was introduced to Syphilis (S.T.D.). I find this a tad ironic due to the fact that Europeans infected the Native Americans, then the Native Americans then affected the Europeans through the women they stole. “The Pox” as Europeans called syphilis, spread through Europe slowly then about as fast as the diseases in the New World did. When sores would occur on the genital area mercury and guaiacum were used as a remedy. This S.T.D. soon calmed down and became part of our

Show More
Related
800 Words | 4 Pages

The diseases brought by the Europeans included smallpox, tuberculosis, influenza, measles, whooping cough and the common cold. The consequences of these diseases for the recipients were deadly and life threatening, especially since a common cold was extremely difficult for these people to overcome. A year after the First Fleet arrived, in 1789, a smallpox outbreak killed numbers of the Indigenous people that lived in the area that we know today as Sydney. (Carter, 2005.) The disease spread to surrounding communities and the number of victims increased rapidly.

Read More
1170 Words | 5 Pages

A few pigs brought to the New World could have transmitted their diseases to the surrounding environment which could have mutated into human diseases. Native Americans did not know of these animal diseases because they did not domesticate many animals. Yet some critics doubt a few pigs could cause so much death; the Black Death would have been much less severe than what the Indians faced. They believe a multitude of plagues and the Indian’s unprepared immune system had a much greater effect. Again, archaeologists argue how many people actually live in the Americas in 1492.

Read More
453 Words | 2 Pages

The Exchange also brought new diseases to both hemispheres, though the effects were greatest in the Americas. Smallpox from the Old World wiped out millions of the Native American population to mere fractions of their original

Read More
200 Words | 1 Pages

Immediately following Columbus ' arrival in the New World in 1492, a mass exchange of people, animals, and microscopic life between the Eastern and Western Hemispheres began. This transition brought about extremely dramatic consequences because the Old and New Worlds had previously been completely isolated from each other. Although there were some insignificant results of this exchange, such as certain species of animals and plants taking over foreign ecosystems, there were also devastating ramifications; namely, perilous diseases. The Europeans were immune to the diseases which they introduced to the Natives. This created a virgin soil epidemic, which is an outbreak in which the afflicted had not been exposed to before.

Read More
184 Words | 1 Pages

I completely agree disease was the key factor in the depopulation of Native-Americans in the Americas for the following reasons 1-These illnesses, such as Influenza, measles, chicken pox, mums, typhus, and smallpox known as European disease are infectious disease that spread in contact. Even though we have more sophisticated antibiotic today, doctors still struggle to treat them. It is understandable at the time of the Native American that those illnesses were fatal because the sanitation was very poor, and the health care was far developed. As a result millions died.

Read More
1296 Words | 6 Pages

In fact, “Native Americans died in appalling numbers, in many cases up to 90 percent of the population.” The diseases were at its worst in the Aztec and Inca Empires since the people lived close together. However, in the old world, disease related deaths were not nearly as prevalent as in the Americas. The reason for this difference is that the Native Americans had no domesticated animals (except llamas), which resulted in no acquired immunities to old world diseases.

Read More
455 Words | 2 Pages

All of the trading caused an extremely negative impact on the Americas. All of the new diseases that were introduced cause major problems for the natives there. The native Americans welcomed the invaders with open arms because they were unaware of the diseases they carried. Due to their tolerance for the diseases they brought, the Europeans did not give much thought to or concern about the risks they posed to the locals. Nearly over 90% of Native Americans perished due to the smallpox, influenza, and other virus

Read More
654 Words | 3 Pages

It is estimated that approximately 95% of pre-Columbus Native Americans were killed by European diseases. Since the outbreak of the diseases spread because of the European colonization, it made conquering the Americas much easier. Health was definitely the most detrimental obstacle that the Native Americans had to face as a result of the European

Read More
569 Words | 3 Pages

These diseases harmed all who were diagnosed by it, and wiped out a countless number of the Indian population. Though these diseases did bring lots of death and loss in population, the discovery of certain crops created a stronger impact on the world than deaths of others by disease. The American’s had given crops from the New World like squash, potatoes, and tomatoes to the Europeans from the Old World who had been unfamiliar with these newly exchanged items. For example, potatoes were a crop in which Americans felt were a necessity to always have, and decided to share with this with the Europeans. Soon enough the potatoes traveled and reached Ireland.

Read More
756 Words | 4 Pages

In American history, many overlook the violence that occurred when New England colonists encountered the Native Americans. When the New England colonists arrived in Plymouth in the 1620s and interacted with the Native Americans, they lived in peace with each other for more than 50 years. The colonists instigated a war with the natives to gain more land from the Native Americans and resulted with a massacre. This resulted in colonialism affecting the lives of colonists and Native Americans because both experienced forming an alliance, enduring social change, and deaths.

Read More
1169 Words | 5 Pages

As the Europeans found native along the coasts of the New World, they found them easily malleable and able to be used, so they enslaved them and those who fought back were wiped out. Europeans, as well as the Africans, had built up a resistance to many diseases such as smallpox and were therefore not really affected as much by the diseases if they became sick. However, the Native Americans had not had contact with the disease and it quickly spread rapidly and slowly helped the Spanish rid themselves of the natives so they could take control of the land. Geoffrey Cowley offers insight on just how profound the effect of smallpox was when he writes, “ ...When the newcomers arrived carrying mumps, measles, whooping cough, smallpox, cholera, gonorrhea and yellow fever, the Indians were immunologically

Read More
818 Words | 4 Pages

So many people aren’t aware of the horrific plague after Columbus arrived in the “New World”, that killed nearly the entire Native American population. A majority of the diseases were from the animals raised by Europeans and those diseases spread like the wind. It’s important to mention the plague because it wiped out 60% of Europe’s population. An when they arrived to the new land, they brought along with them this plague. And the sad thing is, a lot of the pilgrims were actually grateful that the native american population was dramatically discreasing.

Read More
685 Words | 3 Pages

Numerous historians comply that this particular revolution subsequently encouraged humans to develop crucial, revolutionary inventions such as the wheel, cursive script, mathematics, astronomy, and animal products; these items, in particular, permitted the technological advances of the modern era like autonomous vehicles, high-speed broadband Internet, and space exploration. Primarily, the stationary atmosphere of agricultural settlements on top of the specialization of skills among varying individuals stimulated such inventions. Nonetheless, despite these sweeping discoveries, harmful repercussions flourished as well. Outbreaks of hazardous diseases such as measles, smallpox, and influenza substantially fostered due to animal domestication with abysmal sanitary practices as catalysts; however, this scenario was exclusive to the Old World of Europe, Asia, and Africa as individuals fabricated a resistance to the diseases.. As a result, during the Colonialism Age, when domesticated animals, and their diseases, travelled to the New World, over ninety percent of Native Americans died from the lack of immunity, which, as history orchestrated, the dominance of European ancestry in the Americas.

Read More
603 Words | 3 Pages

Among the many things spread and shared in the Columbian Exchange, the trading of diseases is perhaps the most significant. The natives of the Americas had never experienced the serious diseases that European explorers carried over to the New World. From smallpox to influenza and malaria to cholera, Native American populations were drastically decreased due to their poor immunity. Between the numerous amounts of European diseases, though, measles was the most remarkable in that its effects were both widespread and enduring. Measles, also known as rubeola, is a respiratory infection caused by the measles virus.

Read More
1330 Words | 6 Pages

The traditional view is that syphilis was brought to the Old World by ship’s crews returning from the Columbian voyages of discovery in the late fifteenth century. Until recently, the archaeological skeletal evidence of treponematosis before 1500 A.D. from the New World

Read More

More about Essay On Native American Diseases

Related Topics

Open Document