4.3

Years of Isolation

  • Before the arrival of Columbus, the Western and Eastern Hemispheres had been almost completely isolated from one another. 

Disease

  • AfroEurasians had lived with these diseases since the domestication of animals

  • Native Americans had no immunity to AfroEurasian disease. 

  • Although horses, gunpowder, and metal weapons helped in conquest, it was disease that killed the majority of Nat. AMS.

  • Forced to submit to new rulers and religions 

  • Smallpox, typhus, influenza, and measles from Europe

Hernan Cortes (1485-1547) and the Aztecs

  • Led expedition to Mexico in 1519

    • Conquistadores: Spanish soldiers who conquered the Americas

  • Used Aztec enemies as his allies

  • Took Aztec ruler Moctezuma II hostage, later executed him

  • Eventually destroyed Tenochtitlan and massacred the Aztecs in 1521

    • Built Mexico City on its ruins

Francisco Pizarro (1471-1541) and the Inca

  • Captured Inca ruler Atahualpa
    • Executed him despite the “room of gold” ransom
  • Conquered Cuzco in 1533
  • Founded Spanish territorial capital at Lima

Conquistador Tactics

  • Horses
  • Gunpowder
  • Steel weapons and armor
  • Disease

(Using Native Americans as allies against other Native Americans)

KC – 4.1.V.A- European colonization of the Americas led to the unintentional transfer of disease vectors, including mosquitos and rats, and the spread of diseases that were endemic in the Eastern Hemisphere, including smallpox, measles, and malaria.  Some of these diseases substantially reduced the indigenous populations, with catastrophic effects in many areas.

The Great Dying

  • As colonists settled the Americas so did

    • Insects
    • Rats 
    • Other disease-carrying animals

  • The native population fell by more than 50% in less than a century.

Native American Population Decline

  • Mexico: 20 million+ dead
  • Peru: From 10 million down to 1.5 million between 1530 and 1590

[[Animals and Food[[

Unknown to dietary staples

  • Cows and pigs were brought from Europe.
  • Prior to this Nat. Ams. ate very little meat. 

Horse

  • Brought a new surplus of food to the Am’s of the plains region.  It allowed them to hunt bison efficiently. 

Cash Crops and Forced Labor

KC – 4.1.V.B – American foods became staple crops in various parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa.  Cash crops were grown primarily on plantations with coerced labor and were exported mostly to Europe and the Middle East. 

SUGAR

  • While Spain found its riches in silver, the Portuguese profited from sugarcane.

  • Most natives dead or fled Portuguese import labor into tropical Brazil from the Kongo Kingdom or the Swahili Coast. 

  • Sugar Profits led to a dramatically increased slave trade

  • Sugar cultivation demanded a constant importation of Africans. 

    • 90% of Africans went to the Caribbean and SA.
    • Until the mid-1800s more Africans went to the Americas than Europeans. 

  • Slaves often died from 

    • Backbreaking conditions
    • Poor nutrition
    • Lack of shelter
    • Tropical heat
    • disease

African Diaspora

  • Languages- most did not share a common language 
    • Linguistic and cultural isolation saw the loss of language after a generation.
    • Creole – a mixture of W. African languages and another European language. 
    • The languages still dominate the Caribbean

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