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Summary Of The Atlantic Paradox

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The concept of the “Atlantic Paradox” involves viewing the Atlantic Ocean as both a moat and a bridge between the continents. While physically separating America from Europe and Africa, the Atlantic Ocean has also served as a means to get from one place to another, bringing fortunes for some and terror for others. The Atlantic Paradox affected the peoples of Europe, Africa, and America first through being a barrier of safety, yet also helping to ignite the slave trade, introduce different cultures, and make Europeans wealthy while decimating native populations. During the 15th century, Europeans were able to gain the knowledge enabling them to sail the Atlantic Ocean, first around Africa and eventually, all the way to America. The Atlantic …show more content…

Benjamin W. Labaree’s article, The Atlantic Paradox, discusses in detail the results of Columbus’ contact, turning the great bridge of the Atlantic into a connection to the New World. The Columbian Exchange, which was the transfer of animal, plants, and diseases between the continents, also mixed cultures and ideas together as well. Even though American natives lost more than they gained when their western boundary failed them, they still benefited in some ways through trade, such as the use of Spanish horses to hunt buffalos, a much more effective way for the Plains Indians. The contact, however, triggered a decimation of Native populations, not necessarily from violence, but from a lack of immunity to European diseases. In this way, the Atlantic moat actually caused more harm than good for Native Americans, by being cut off from the rest of the world for so long, their immune systems could not defend themselves from the diseases that Europeans brought over with them. Europeans, however, saw the pristine natural resources as the perfect profit, gaining gold, silver, furs, and fish. The climate in South America was also perfect for growing luxury crops such as sugar, bringing another positive aspect upon European people from their use of the Atlantic as a bridge rather than a moat (Notes) (Labaree

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In chapter nine (The Columbian Exchange) of his book, The Unending Frontier, John F. Richards argues that the “Columbian discovery and colonial rule in the West Indies brought drastic changes to the people and natural environment of the Greater and Lesser Antilles.” For instance, the biological exchange of diseases such as smallpox and swine flu to which the indigenous peoples had developed no antibodies for “thinned (the native’s) numbers, destroyed their institutions, and broke their resistance to Spanish aggression.” In fact, after only a century after European contact, the indigenous population in the New World shrunk to one tenth its previous size from 53 million to 5 or 6 million people. Spanish rule, therefore, only expedited the eventual

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In the Columbian Exchange, diseases were brought from Europeans and the population of American Indians had declined by 80-90% during the first hundred

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Christopher Columbus's discovery of the “New World” in 1492 was the stimulant for change that European society, at the time, had been waiting for. European society, for hundreds of years, was living in the deep shadows of Asia. The discovery of America opened a whole new world of riches and opportunities to the explorers. However, beyond these new goods and opportunities lied horrific effects of European contact to the indigenous people; the Aztecs. Contact with the European explorers did not lead to prosperity; it led to death and fall of the great empire where it was decapitated and left unrecognizable.

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Historians differ on what they think about the net result of the European arrival in the New World. Considering that the Columbian Exchange, which refers to “exchange of plants, animals, people, disease, and culture between Afro-Eurasia and the Americas after Columbus sailed to the Americas in 1492,” led to possibly tens of millions of deaths on the side of the American Indians, but also enabled agricultural and technological trade (Henretta et al. 42), I cannot help but reflect on whether the effects should be addressed as a historical or a moral question. The impact that European contact had on the indigenous populations of North America should be understood as a moral question because first, treating it as a historical question is difficult due to lack of reliable historical evidence; second, the meaning of compelling historical claims is contestable as the academic historian perspective tends to view the American Indian oral history as invalid; and finally, what happened to the native Indians is morally repulsive and must be discussed as such. The consequences of European contact should be answered as a moral question because historically, it is hard to be historically objective in the absence of valid and dependable historical evidence.

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Throughout the late 1400’s and the 1500’s, the world experienced many changes due to the discoveries of new lands and peoples that had been never been visited before. The new-found lands of the Americas and exploration of Africa by the Europeans led to new colonies and discoveries in both areas. It also brought different societies and cultures together that had never before communicated, causing conflict in many of these places. While the Europeans treated both the Native Americans and West Africans as inferior people, the early effects they had on the Native Americans were much worse. Beginning in the late 1400’s, many different European explorers started to look for new trade routes in the Eastern Hemisphere in order to gain economic and religious power.

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Merrell’s article proves the point that the lives of the Native Americans drastically changed just as the Europeans had. In order to survive, the Native Americans and Europeans had to work for the greater good. Throughout the article, these ideas are explained in more detail and uncover that the Indians were put into a new world just as the Europeans were, whether they wanted change or

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Crosby is uses his book Ecological Imperialism to explain the disbursal of disease that came along with the expansion of Old World Europe outside of its mother country. Crosby’s Theory attributes the success of the conquistadors, the first English settlers, and the fur trade with the French to the disease they brought along with them. In other words, the Old World might not have been the spectacular adventurer and settlers they make themselves out to be. Crosby makes the reader question what would have happened if the natives of the New Worlds had the immunity to fight the European diseases? Questions like this are the reason that the first ten chapters of Ecological Imperialism are so important.

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Turkey Fever There is no wonder so many folks have caught the turkey fever across America. Turkey fever has become the remedy for cabin fever for many outdoors people and for good reason. There are very few things greater than to see a big gobbler strutting along a ridge-top on a cool spring morning especially if they are heading your way. The woods are greening up and the birds are singing as you hit the slate lightly to keep them coming and two of the old strutting toms let out a gobble and swell back up to display those tail feathers. One of the gobblers begins to spit and drum as they slowly approach your decoys.

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When Christopher Columbus’s three ships hit the sandy beaches of what is now known as the Bahamas the world had been changed forever. The new world changed many aspects of both the Natives as well as the Europeans that set on the new land. Things such as new foods, disease, and even labor systems changed both the new and the old world drastically. When the first Europeans first set foot on the land unknown to them at the time, they had no idea what was in store for them and neither did the natives. Little did they know that waiting for the natives were dangerous organisms not seen by the naked eye.

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  Some states thrived under the trade, while others economically deteriorated so drastically that they continue to suffer today.   Despite the consequences, the trade connected the world closer than ever before.   A main reason why Europeans colonized the New World with such swiftness and determination lay in the drinks of nobles and the soil of peasants.   Sugar was in high demand during the 1500s and 1600s, and the fertile coasts of the Carribean and Brazil made for a perfect environment.   Sugar cane was just the tip of the iceberg: Europeans soon discovered crops native to the Americas that heavily impacted world economy, a prime example being the potato.

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During the early 1400’s European exploration initiated changes in technology, farming, disease and other cultural things ultimately impacting the Native Americans and Europeans. Throughout Columbus’ voyages, he initiated the global exchange that changed the world. The exchange of plants, animals, and diseases between the Old and New World began soon after Columbus returned to Spain from the Americas. These changes had multiple effects, that were both positive and negative. Although the Columbian Exchange had numerous benefits and drawbacks but the drawbacks outweighs the benefits.

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During the late 1400s and the early 1500s, European expeditioners began to explore the New World. Native Americans, who were living in America originally, were much different than the Europeans arriving at the New World; they had a different culture, diet, and religion. Eventually, both the Native Americans and the European colonists exchanged different aspects of their life. For example, Native Americans gave the Europeans corn, and the Europeans in return gave them modern weapons, such as various types of guns. This type of trade was called “the Columbian Exchange.”

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When the new animals were introduced, the native species decreased immediately because of lack of protection against the foreign species. Animals such as cows and pigs were herbivores. Because of this, native herbivores had to compete for food with the foreign species. (F, Johnson) Aside from spreading disease and food, the Columbian Exchange also spread religion.

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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.

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“1491” Questions 1. Two scholars, Erikson and William Balée believe that almost all aspects of Native American life have been perceived wrong. Although some refuse to believe this, it has been proven to be the truth. Throughout Charles C. Mann’s article from The Atlantic, “1491”, he discusses three main points: how many things that are viewed as facts about the natives are actually not true, the dispute between the high and low counters, and the importance of the role disease played in the history of the Americas. When the term “Native American” is heard, the average person tends to often relate that to a savage hunter who tries to minimize their impact on their surrounding environment.

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