The Impact of European Diseases in the New World

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The Impact of European Diseases in the New World

If science has taught us anything, it is that one event invariably effects countless others. This is no more evident than when a species is introduced into a new environment. Once a foreign species finds itself in new surroundings, it can either die or adapt. Often, these introduced species take over the environment, irrevocably changing it to fit their needs. This usually leads to a serious deteriorating in the well being of species currently existing there. Such is the case as when the Europeans introduced themselves to the New World. The new arrivals not only brought themselves, their technologies, and ways of life, but, most disastrously, their diseases arrived as well.

When the Europeans crossed the Atlantic, they not only fought and killed many natives; they slaughtered countless more without even knowing it, signing the death warrants of millions simply by meeting . The real detrimental effect to the Indians was their exposure to the diseases inadvertently brought over by the colonists; these "most hideous enemies…invisible killers which those men brought in their blood and breath." (Stannard, xii)

The effect of these diseases in the New World (and in fact, many diseases have in general) is rather ironic. The pathogens that cause disease are not out to kill anything, quite the opposite. The whole purpose for anything existing in this world is to pass its genetic material on to offspring. This concept is called fitness. For an organism to be optimally fit, it must survive so it can successfully multiply as often as it can, creating numerous kin so that its genes will live on generations past its own death. For viruses to live, they need a host. They infect an org...

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Stannard, David, E. 1992. American Holocaust: Columbus and the Conquest of the New World. Oxford University Press. 385pp

Cowley, Geoffrey. 1992. "The Great Disease Migration." Newsweek. Fall/Winter, vol. 118. Pg. 54(3)

Crosby, Alfred, W. 1986. Ecological Imperialism. Cambridge University Press. 368pp

Meltzer, David J. 1992. "How Columbus sickened the New World." New Scientist, Oct. 10. Vol.136, pg.38 (4)

Linton, Alan. 1982. Microbes, Man and Animals: The Natural History of Microbial Interactions. John Wiley & Sons. 342pp

Sale, Kirkpatrick. 1991. The Conquest of Paradise: Christopher Columbus and the Columbian Legacy. Plume. 453pp.

Unknown, Discover Staff. 1996. "The origin of Syphilis." Discover. October. Vol. 17, n10, pg23 (3)

Glick, J, Schaffer, C. 1991. "The Indian Homeland." U.S. News and World Report. July 8, vol.111, n2, pg26 (6)

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