America Before Columbus Analysis

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Recommended: Commerce between the Old World and New World in the Columbian Exchange

Miljkovic Nadine
Honors US History 4B
7 September 2014
“America Before Columbus” Response

This article was both fascinating and startling. I had never heard of Cahokia before, and was stunned to learn that there were tribes practically in every state here in America. From previous history classes, it sounded like tribes were few and far between.
The Europeans thought that Native Americans needed to learn the value of their gifts and to not just give away their wealth. Yet, the Indians were simply following the religious, white man belief that giving is better than taking. It is the definition of hypocrisy. Europeans thought that the tribes were simply wandering around, yet there were dubious to the fact that these tribes had intricate trade …show more content…

Buffalos that were vast and spread across the country now have small claims in prairies. Other animals went extinct altogether. Large trees that grew due to burning and fertilization by the Indians disappeared due to Europeans using them for other purposes.
The Columbian Exchange was the trading of Old World and New World animals, crops, disease, and ideas. These diseases killed two thirds of the New World and many others in Africa as well. The corn and potatoes given to Africa and Europe saved their populations. The tomatoes spreading to Italy led to some of the greatest foods of all time: pizza, spaghetti, and ravioli, which I am very thankful for. Thanks, New World. I am less thankful for bees being brought to the Americas, but their pollination was very helpful.
Though Europeans provided miniscule improvement to the Americas, there was a great injustice done to the Native Americans. It is truly a shameful period in history that is scarcely recorded in United States history textbooks in our schools. No amount of Indian reservations or casinos could make up for the mass deaths caused by Europeans moving into the Americas. There should have been a greater effort on the Europeans part to learn about this “alien” culture and to include them into the new societies. It’s shocking that I’ve never heard of Cahokia and all of these tribes before. More Americans should be aware of what was once a thriving

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