The greatest adversary to the natives in the Americas was not the swords or guns of the invaders. It was the devastation brought by deadly diseases infecting an unsuspecting population that had no immunity to such diseases.
The Europeans were said to be thoroughly diseased by the time Columbus set sail on his first voyage (Cowley, 1991). Through the domestication of such animals as pigs, horses, sheep, and cattle, the Europeans exposed themselves to a vast array of pathogens which continued to be spread through wars, explorations, and city-building. Thus any European who crossed the Atlantic was immune to such diseases as measles and smallpox because of battling them as a child.
The original inhabitants traveled to the New World in groups of a couple hundred each. Because microbes such as the ones that cause measles and smallpox need populations of several million to survive, the original populations were unaffected by the deadly diseases. However, by the time Columbus arrived, the major Indian groups of Aztecs, Incas, and Mayas had built their populations up enough to sustain mass epidemics. Evidence shows that these populations suffered from such diseases as syphilis, tuberculosis, a few intestinal parasites, and some types of flu, but not the diseases that had been infecting the Old World for centuries. Thus when the Europeans arrived bringing diseases such as smallpox, measles, whooping cough, etc. the natives were immunologically defenseless (Cowley, 1991).
It is believed that 40 million to 50 million people inhabited the New World before the arrival of Columbus and the Europeans, and that most of them died within a few decades. For example, Mexico's population fell from about 30 million in 1519 to 3 million in 1588. The other South and Central American countries as well as the Caribbean islands suffered the same devastation (Cowley, 1991). Mass epidemics were virtually unknown in the New World prior to the invasion of the Europeans. Aside from their lack of immunity to the pathogens, another factor in the rapid spread of the diseases could have been the weariness of the Indian populations. Due to their recent conquest and oppression by the Spaniards, the Indians were probably too tired to fight the infections.
One thing that must be noted is that contrary to popular belief, infectious agents such as viruses, bacteria, parasites, etc. are not desig...
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...o be like syphilis in that it was haunting isolated populations before becoming global. And just as syphilis was carried globally by ships; jet planes and world-wide social changes have brought AIDS out of isolation. Like smallpox and other infectious diseases in the 16th century and AIDS in the 20th century, what new disease will hit and destroy unsuspecting populations?
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Cowley, Geoffrey. "The Great Disease Migration."
Newsweek (Special Issue, Fall/Winter 1991) pp. 54-56
Crosby, Alfred W. Jr. The Columbian Exchange: Biological and Cultural Consequences of 1492, Westport: Greenwood Press, 1972
Assignment: Write a short review of this paper for class on Friday.
In addition, overwhelming historical evidence suggests that the greatest rates of morbidity and death from infection are associated with the introduction of new diseases from one region of the world to another by processes associated with civilized transport of goods at speeds and over distances outside the range of movements common to hunting and gathering groups. (excerpt from book of same title: pp. 131-141) Cohen, M. Health and the Rise of Civilization. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1989.
He introduces the book with the concept of parasites and their role in balancing human population growth and their rise in the food chain or how he puts it “compensatory adjustments by other forms of life hemmed in human communities in such a tough and complex way that even after fully human skills had been achieved, the new efficiency attainable through cultural evolution was not sufficient to overpower and revolutionize the ecological system within which humanity evolved.” Interestingly McNeill gives agency to viruses and even distinguishes them as a safety measure preventing humanity from destroying the ecological balance of the world. Throughout Plagues and Peoples, McNeill tracks migration patterns, new points of contact, and warfare across countries and continents and how epidemic outbreak patterns correspond with major events.
Beginning in the fifteenth century with the arrival of Columbus, natives of the Americas were infected with European diseases that proved to be deadly to the Indians. The population in northern Mexico suffered an immense decimation of 2,500,000 peoples to less than 320,000 by the end of the sixteenth century (Vargas, 30). The Spaniards’ cruel treatment of the natives aided this vast reduction in the Aztec and Mexican population, enabling the Spaniards to conquer the lands of the Aztecs and other native tribes. By the end of the sixteenth century, the Spaniards had expanded their conquests into the southwest region of what is now known as the United States of America.
Human mobility, in terms of European transcontinental exploration and colonization, began to truly flourish after the 1400s. This travel, inspired by financial motives and justified by religious goals, resulted in the European dominance and decimation of countless cultures in both the Americas and Eurasia. While at first glance it seems as though this dominance was achieved through mainly military means - European militias, like Spanish conquistadors, rolling over native tribes with their technologically advanced weapons - the reality is significantly more complex. The Europeans, most likely unknowingly, employed another, equally deadly weapon during their exploits. With their travel, they brought with them the infectious diseases of their homelands, exposing the defenseless natives to foreign malady that their bodies had no hope of developing immunities against. Because of the nature of disease and their limited knowledge about its modes of infection, the Europeans were able to dispense highly contagious and mortal illnesses while limiting their contraction of any native ones to the new territories. In short, they were able to kill without being killed. In this way, the travel of disease in conjunction with the travel of humans in a search for exotic commodities was able to limit or even halt the development of some cultures while allowing others to flourish at exponential rates.
The reactions of sheer shock and awe is used by the author to support the thesis by demonstrating the brilliance of the society that existed in the Americas before Columbus relative to to Europe and the society Columbus brought to America. An additional way Charles C. Mann supports his thesis is explaining why the natives were defeated if their society was so advanced. Precisely, he stated that disease was why the native society fell: “The People of the First Light could avoid or adapt to European technology but not European disease. Their societies were destroyed by weapons their opponents could not control and did not even know they had”(70). A common reason for disagreeing with the author’s thesis is that the natives could not have been so advanced if they were so easily dispatched by the European people. Fortunately, Charles C. Mann addresses this issue furthering his thesis that advanced society existed in the Americas before the arrival of Columbus by stating it was not the society of the Europeans that was more advanced but rather the uncontrollable spread of disease by the Europeans. A final way Charles C.
...Lord, 4). To put this in perspective, “The 150 years after Columbus’s arrival brought a toll on human life in this [the Western] hemisphere comparable to all of the world’s losses in World War II,” (Lord, 4). In his book, Plagues and Peoples, William McNeill attributes this population reduction with the old world diseases that “swept across the hemisphere far faster than the Europeans that brought them,” (Lord, 1).
Typhus, diphtheria, malaria, influenza, cholera, and smallpox killed many of the native people. Many lands of the Americas were discovered before and after the year of 1492; European influence had a roaring effect on the reign it sprung forth, during the many voyages by explorers. Christopher Columbus is profoundly known to be the key asset to advancing European culture across seas. The Columbian Exchange, colonization, and the growth of slave usage throughout the usage of the Triangular Trade, all conveyed foreign practices to the American Continent while also interrupting, but at the same time joining with the lifestyles of the inhabitants of these lands.
The Columbian exchange was the widespread transfer of various products such as animals, plants, and culture between the Americas and Europe. Though most likely unintentional, the byproduct that had the largest impact from this exchange between the old and new world was communicable diseases. Europeans and other immigrants brought a host of diseases with them to America, which killed as much as ninety percent of the native population. Epidemics ravaged both native and nonnative populations of the new world destroying civilizations. The source of these epidemics were due to low resistance, poor sanitation, and inadequate medical knowledge- “more die of the practitioner than of the natural course of the disease (Duffy).” These diseases of the new world posed a serious
When early Europeans arrived in the United States more than 500 years ago, they were surprised to see Native Americans recovering from illnesses and injuries that they considered fatal. In many ways, the Indians' herbal remedies were far superior to those known to the new immigrants. But, for the Native Americans, they had no remedies for the "diseases of civilization," or white man's diseases, such as measles and small pox, which would wipe out thousands of them over the next few centuries. Not
William H. McNeill makes a monumental contribution to the knowledge of humanity in his book Plagues and Peoples. He looks at the history of the world from an ecological point of view. From this viewpoint the history of human civilization is greatly impacted by changing patterns of epidemic infection. Plagues and Peoples suggests that "the time scale of world history...should [be] viewed [through] the "domestication" of epidemic disease that occurred between 1300 and 1700" (page 232). "Domestication" is perceived "as a fundamental breakthrough, directly resulting from the two great transportation revolutions of that age - one by land, initiated by the Mongols, and one by sea, initiated by Europeans" (page 232). This book illustrates how man's environment and its resident diseases have controlled human migration, as well as societal successes and failures. McNeill discusses the political, demographical, and psychological effects of disease on the human race. He informs his audience that epidemics are still a viable threat to society, and warns of potential future consequences.
The Spread of Disease In the New World The extraordinary good health of the natives prior to the coming of the Europeans would become a key ingredient in their disastrous undoing. The greatest cause of disease in America was epidemic diseases imported from Europe. Epidemic diseases killed with added virulence in the " virgin soil" populations of the Americas. The great plague that arose in the Old World never emerged on their own in the western hemisphere and did not spread across oceans until Columbus' discovery.
While the Europeans were traveling to the New World, they often brought domesticated animals with them for sources of food and livestock. When animals and humans are living in close quarters together, it is very likely for exposure to germs to occur. New diseases were brought over by foreigners looking for fame and gold that killed off many of the natives in the new lands. The natives did not stand a chance against these new threats because of a lack of knowledge and supplies to cure themselves. Once the Europeans established diseases as they made land in the New World, their journey had only become easier as their competition were being wiped out from the rapid spread.
The rail market continued to grow and by the 1860’s all major cities within the United States were connected by rail. The main diseases that showed the most virulence during the time were cholera, yellow fever and consumption, now known as tuberculosis. The 9th census mortality data showed that 1 out 7 deaths from disease were caused by tuberculosis and 1 out of 24 disease deaths were resulting from cholera. . Until the 1870s the general consensus of the spread of disease through population was still the primitive idea that it came from the individual and not specifically the pathogen.... ... middle of paper ... ...
The Effects of Colonization on the Native Americans Native Americans had inherited the land now called America and eventually their lives were destroyed due to European colonization. When the Europeans arrived and settled, they changed the Native American way of life for the worse. These changes were caused by a number of factors including disease, loss of land, attempts to export religion, and laws, which violated Native American culture. 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 the Native Americans until the Europeans brought these diseases over time to them.
Nurses play a critical role on patient’s health; the relationship that a nurse and patient develop can in some cases be life altering. Applying these characteristics and being a servant leader to patients establishes life long impressions and makes critical difference in treatment allowing for optimal care to be received. Always listen to patients concerns, be empathetic in their concerns, and help while committing to their personal growth, one never knows whom they are actually a leader for. Some individuals look up to nurses and count
The characteristics brought forth in the book revolve around the ideas of Christianity and so they are not new ideas, but are ideas that were re-imagined for the current world. The basis of the book’s ideas comes mostly out of I Corinthian’s chapter 13 which is often quoted as the “love” chapter. This chapter speaks about how important love is in the Christian faith. However, Hunter (1998) brings forth knowledge of the different types of love from the Greek words used in the Bible. The type that is most important according to “the teacher” from the book is the agape love. This love is the most important kind because it is the kind of love we are meant to show to each and every person no matter who they are or what their position is in life (Hunter, 1998). This author strongly believes that agape love guides and acts as one of the foundations for servant leadership. Without this love for each person we cannot truly serve their needs and help them become the best possible version of themselves. The struggle is of course to treat each person we meet with agape love because it is not always easy to love everyone we meet. It is important, however, that we as nurses act in agape love to ensure that our patients receive the best care possible on their way to optimum