The Diversity of American Colonial Societies

Overview

How did the development of European colonies in the Americas alter the natural environment? (The Earth and Its Peoples, 474)

The development of European colonies in the Americas drastically and permanently changed not only the environment of the New World, but also those of multiple countries around the globe. Many species of plants, animals, diseases, and races of people were dispersed throughout North and South America. Important Native American crops such as the potato and corn were brought back to the Old World of Europe and significantly changed diets and lifestyles there. This widespread exchange of plants and animals is referred to as the Columbian Exchange, after Christopher Columbus, whose historical voyage arguably started the movement.

The introduction of Old World diseases was a substantial catalyst in the building of American colonial societies. Diseases such as smallpox devastated the native people’s populations. According to one estimate, within the span of the 16th century, the native population of central Mexico was reduced to about 700,000 from at least 13 million. (The Earth and Its Peoples, 475) Other regions were similarly affected by the disease and others such as measles, typhus, influenza, and malaria. These diseases, in effect, cleared the way for European settlers, although, in a somewhat gruesome fashion.

A significant factor in the transformation of the land of the New World was trading and hunting. Before Europeans arrived, the natives had manipulated the land themselves to create herds of buffalo and other animals for food, clothing, and other resources. After European colonization, the hunting and trade systems of both groups of people changed. The natives acquired guns and hors...

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...ditions were terrible and the superintendents’ disregard for their welfare did not help any. According to footnote 2, a peso was worth 8 reals. So, they were paid for their work, but the compensation amounted to almost nothing. The “Potosí” section mentions that the “mingados”, volunteer workers, were paid more, and were paid based on experience. The section also mentions a provision of food rations, so the Spanish must have had some concern for the welfare of these workers, if only pragmatic in nature. I think that the greatest indicator of the Spanish disregard for native life lies in the sentence “This works out very badly, with great losses and gaps in the quotas of the Indians […]”. (The Human Record, 144) It implies that many died due to work in the mines, and because of the disparity of the population and natural lifestyle of the natives, more suffered.