What Were the Effects of the Contact Between Europeans and North Americans Essay Example for Free

What Were the Effects of the Contact Between Europeans and North Americans Essay Ever since 1485, Christopher Columbus, an explorer from Italy, began to vigorously look for sponsor for his voyage. He presented his idea of sailing to the Atlantic and into mysterious Asia to John II, King of Portugal. Yet, he was interested in his plan. John II and the royalties thought the plan was unfavorable and unrealistic. When Columbus was about to give up, the queen of Spain, Queen Isabella, offered her assistance. Columbus and Queen Isabella later signed a treaty called Capitulations of Santa Fe, stating that the new lands Columbus could claim for Spain would belong to him. In return, he should bring back gold, pearls, and spice. In 1492,Christopher Columbus and his three ships- the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria, arrived on the shores of San Salvador in the Caribbean. Lacking knowledge of geography, he believed that he had reached India but which was actually North America. (Livingston, 2010) However, after Columbus’ arrival in the Americas, the animal, plant, people, and bacterial life of these two worlds began to mix up. The arrival of Columbus brought wars, slavary and forced labor, the spreading of diseases caused at least 5 million deaths even worse. The contact between Europeans and North Americans brought Natives catastrophes and devastation that Europeans could never make up. Most importantly, the hidden disease brought by the Europeans caused massive amount of Natives to die. As the Spain, French, and English explorers came to America, diseases like small pox, malaria, chicken pox, influenza, measles, and yellow fever, the diseases that once killers that killed a great deal of Europeans, were brought to the new lands too. Walbert)Which were later called as â€Å" The gift from Old to New Worlds†. (Kincheloe, 2007) As time passed, the Europeans were used to these diseases and gained immunity against them. However, the natives had never confront of these disease before, therefore they had no resistance to these illness, and their traditional cures didn’t work. These diseases killed as much as 90 percent of the native population, which means that only one in ten natives survived. Diseases like malaria and yellow fever were passed down from person to person from mosquitoes. When a particular region was affected, the disease would usually spread out rapidly. Also, natives could easily get the diseases when traded with one another. Other diseases could be transmitted throught the livestocks brought by the Europeans. For example, cattle passes measles and small pox; pigs pass influenza; chicken pass malaria. Native hunters and gatherers could get the diseases when they were in touch with the animals. Thomas Harriot, an English explorer, witnessed the natives suffered from the diseases and wrote the following paragraph in his jornal, â€Å"Within a few days after our departure from every such [Indian] town, the people began to die very fast, and many in short space; in some towns about twenty, in some forty, in some sixty, in one six score [6 x 20 = 120], which in truth was very many in respect of their numbers. . . . The disease was also so strange that they neither knew what it was nor how to cure it. † (Kincheloe, 2007) Harriot’s paragraph clearly stated that the natives died in large amount everyday. Lostln Revery said in her article: The transmission of the diseases caused more devastation in the New World than the Black Death had done in Europe. In addition, the coming of European also brought up a new kind of trade-the slave trade, which cost hundreds and thousands of native men and women forced to be taken away. (Walbert)Dr. Calvin Lawrence Jr. wrote the following paragraph in Coloumbus Day 2012: Hero, Villain, or Both?. â€Å" Columbus is an obvious target of scorn and resentment for Native Americans whose fortunes declined precipitously in the aftermath of his journey to the New World. He and his men also brutalized people of the West Indies and enslaved others. † He interpeted how Columbus and his crew treated the native slaves. According to the passage, the settlers treated the native slaves ruthlessly and unfairly. As the number of settlers increased, more and more buildings like housings were needed. Settlers needed workers to do chores such as building the houses and working of planation. Settlers later found out that they could sell tools, firearms, metal knives, axes, ammunition, alchohol, furs and cloths to the natives. Kincheloe, 2007) In return, they would bring them other natives they captured in tribal wars. Those warslaves were sold to the settlers as slavery. The idea of slavery had already occur before Europeans arrived. The natives adopted the idea of holding slaves as chattel property. Those slaves were usually enslaved war captives and were used for small- scale labor or rutual sacrifices. Little records stated that the slave holders viewed the slavess racially inferior from other tribes. However, most slaves would slowly equalized into the tribes to replace dead warriors. After European marched in, it caused a change in Native American slavery, as they created a new market. At first, the settlers only bought slaves from other tribes and used them as workers. As time passed, the demand increased, colonists in the South began to capture natives. The natives were used as labors to cultivate tobacco, rice, or indigo, which is a type of dye. Therefore, the population of natives decreased swiftly due to forced labor. Settlers even encouraged natives to go against each other to triggered them into war, their objectives were to weaken the warring tribes and increase the number of slaves. Furthermore, the misunderstood and conflict between Europeans and Native Americans usaully lead to war that led to massacres of native villages. For example, the conflict between settlers and the Pequot tribe that was centered along the Pequot River, called The Pequot War. (Pequot War) The natives believed that the land were sacred and they were closely linked with the lands. The idea of â€Å"owning† land did not exit among the Native Americans. They lived on the land, but didn’t consider that they owned it. When European immigrated in their lands, the Native Americans welcomed them and were willing to share the lands with them. Nonetheless, the Europeans took advantages of the natives and started to take over their land. The points of anxiety included unfair trading, the sale of alcohol, and the destruction of Pequot crops. Eventually, it led to the first war between natives and Europeans on the continent. In 1636, European trader called John Oldham was killed by the Pequot. The incident triggered the leader of settlers, John Endicott, to seek retaliations. The Europeans then cooperated with the Narragansett, the rival of the Pequot. In May 1637, more than 500 Pequot people were burned down or hunted down, and the chief was the executed. The village was massacred. Historians considered this as a shameful period of history. The other example was the conflict between the Southern Tuscaroas tribe and the settlers in 1715. The war was later called The Tuscarora War. The European Setllers that lived in North Carolina had lived in peace with the natives for over 50 years. The chief of the Southern Tuscarora, Chief Hancock, later found his villages often assaulted and his people frequently kidnapped and sold as slaves. Chief Hancock felt that there were no alternative but to go against the settlers. Chief Hancock teamed up with other tribes and attakced the planters on the Roanoke River. Hundreds of settlers were killed. Governor force then attacked the Southern Tuscarora and other tribes in return. Hundrerd and thousands of Tuscarora were killed or made prisoners. As the result, the majority of Southern Tuscarora began migrating to New York to escape the setttlers. Due to the natives were mostly lack of armed force and resources, also weaken by diseases, they were nearly always unsucessful in wars. In conclusion, the contact between European and American caused the population of natives to reduce fastly. The Europeans thought they were the superior culture that brought civilization to the inferior culture. Since they were armed with better weapon, natives were in an inferior postion. Although the settlers did make progress for the natives, they still caused a great deal of native’s death. European imperialism of America changed the culture and lives of natives permanently and resulted in genocide of natives. The most deadly reason of native’s death is the disease they brought from the old world. The settlers brought in a number of kinds diseases that were fetal and took away a great deal of native’s life. As the settlers increased, more and more laborers were needed. Natives were captured and sold as slaves to work for the settlers. However,the settlers didn’t treat the natives well and overworked the natives. Lastly, the war between natives and settlers was also one of the reason that natives deceaded. Settlers from European countries armed with better weapons that natives couldn’t compete. As the result, the natives were mostly defeated in battles. To sum up, the contact between Europeans and Native Americans ked to a demographic disaster of unprecedented proportions. Some natives population became extinct in less than 100 years.