Clash of Cultures

Cole Jacobsen

HIS/110

September 28, 2015
Andre P. Tijerina

Clash Of Cultures

There is an ugly part of history when it comes to discussing the treatment of the Native Americans by the Colonists. It makes sense that some of the truths of history seem to evade young children’s history books during their early years of education. However, as we become older, the real history is revealed. Through seemingly any means necessary the colonists eventually won over the land they landed on from England. Their biggest reason for victory, however, was unintended. You could call it biological warfare before there was even such a thing or term. When the colonists came to the New World they brought something hidden that the Native Americans never saw coming. The Colonists main weapon was called disease. When the Europeans made their way across the Atlantic Ocean, they were armed with microbes that had never before been introduced to the new world. The Columbian Exchange is a term that has been coined describing the introduction of new animals, plants and technology ideas by the Europeans to the New World. The introduction of new disease worked the other way around in regards to the introduction of new things being taken back to Europe from the New World. Many of the new things brought forth to the new world had positive economic impact. Unfortunately, with these new additions to life in the new world came the unintentional introduction of Diseases never before seen by the Native Americans. The Native Americans were the group that was hardest hit by disease in terms of the number of deaths. According to "Gettysburg.edu" (n.d.), “Since the Indians were isolated from other cultures and peoples before the arrival of the Europeans, this weakened their defenses against the major diseases of mankind.” The deadliest disease was Smallpox. Measles, malaria, influenza, yellow fever and chicken pox are some of the other diseases that helped to devastate the Native American population. Many of these diseases were airborne so often through the trading of goods with Europeans the tribes were unknowingly infected. There are many estimates on the number of in the death toll of Native Americans, but according to Ojibwa (2009) “The death tolls from the newly introduced European diseases often reached 80-90 percent. Entire groups of people vanished before the tidal wave of disease.” The Native Americans were not the only ones affected by disease. The Europeans also had to deal with never before contacted diseases such as Syphilis, Polio, Hepatitis, and Encephalitis. Several factors came into play as to why the European settlers population was not affected the same way the Native Americans were. Europeans had been around domestic animals for a long period in which they had developed an immunity of sorts to common diseases that these animals carried. Unlike the Native Americans, many Europeans lived in highly populated areas. In close quarters, diseases spread quickly often helping them to develop stronger immune systems in the process. Europeans brought back with them from the New World syphilis. Numbers suggest that upwards of three million people died because of it. However, these numbers were not as significant as ninety-five percent of the population that Native Americans faced. The effects of a disease can still be seen today. Tribes were completely wiped out, or affected to the point of not being able to carry on with their traditions and culture. Because many of the tribes that were killed off from epidemics before a lot of written history, their stories are forever lost. According to (Feest 75) “The majority of tribes making up the Powhatan Confederacy had vanished by the mid 19th century. Those who remained no longer spoke their language and dressed in European styled clothing.” These diseases were not used as a weapon, but they ended up being the most effective offense that the European settlers had against the Native Americans. History has always had an ugly side. Nations and Kingdoms conquering one another have gone on since the dawn of time. It is sad to think that the world as we know it, and our current way of life was made possible due to the cultural destruction of the Native Americans in large part by disease.

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