AOE: Lesson - Effects of Exploration: North and South America
Effects of Exploration: North and South America
Many Europeans saw their explorations and conquests of the "New World" in a certain light. In their view, European explorers were charged with a quest to bring God to foreign peoples, gold back home, and glory to the national identity (often referred to as the Three Gs.) With these goals in mind, the Europeans treated the "New World" differently from the way in which earlier empires treated previously conquered lands. The interaction between the "Old World" and the "New World" transformed populations, landscapes, languages, governments, economies, and the futures of all of the continents involved - sometimes on purpose, sometimes by chance.
The Columbian Exchange
The transatlantic transfer of flora (plant life), fauna (animal life), ideas, and technology between Europe, Africa, and the Americas is referred to as the Columbian Exchange. It started with Christopher Columbus's first voyage to the Americas in 1492—he brought horses, sheep, goats, cattle, chickens, dogs, and cats with him. Later explorers and settlers brought more domesticated European animals to the Americas and returned with ships loaded with new plant life. The result was a complete transformation in global diets. For example, the potato was indigenous to the Americas. It was introduced to Europe in the latter half of the 16th Century CE and within two centuries was one of the most important crops in Europe. The overall result of this exchange was a population explosion in Europe and Asia.
| Location | Fruits | Vegetables | Meats | Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Old World" - Europe, Africa, Asia |
Apples |
Broccoli Cabbage Carrots Cucumbers Lettuce Olives Onions Okra Spinach Turnips |
Chicken Cows (Beef) Pigs (Pork) Sheep (Mutton) Goats |
Coffee Oats Rice Sugar Wheat Black Pepper Salt Garlic |
| Illustration of Old World Foods | ||||
| "New World" - North and South America |
Cranberries |
Avocados Beans Maize (Corn) Peppers Squash Sweet Potatoes Potatoes Tomatoes Zucchini |
Turkey | Cocoa Beans (Cacao) Peanuts Pecans Vanilla |
| Illustration of New World Foods | ||||
Other, More Deadly, Exchanges
Naturally, flora and fauna were not the only things to be exchanged between the "Old" and "New Worlds." Just as the Bubonic Plague accompanied trade throughout Afro-Eurasia during the 14th Century, so did diseases travel with the explorers and settlers between the continents during the Age of Exploration. Because the American Natives didn’t domesticate animals like the Europeans, they didn’t have as many endemic communicable diseases. Therefore, while Europeans transmitted the Bubonic Plague, Smallpox (the image to the left shows Aztec people suffering from smallpox), Typhoid, Influenza, Common Cold, Measles, Scarlet Fever, Cholera, and Diphtheria to Native Americans, Native Americans really only transmitted syphilis back.
Tragically, without natural immunities, these airborne and waterborne diseases spread rapidly in Native communities. In many cases, European diseases would reach a community living in the New World before Europeans actually arrived in the specific community, as the villages that experienced the initial European contacts contracted the illnesses and later spread the diseases through local trade. Regardless of how the diseases were transmitted, though, the statistics on the mortality rates of the indigenous populations in the "New World" following European contact are depressing. In all, between 1492 and 1650, scholars estimate that up to 90 percent of the first Americans to meet the Europeans died. On some Caribbean islands, the entire native population died out.
But germs were not alone in killing off the Native Americans, part of the Columbian Exchange included goods that were deadly either in design or in the emotions they inspired. When European conquistadors first arrived in Mesoamerica, they brought the combined technology of centuries of cultural diffusion among three continents—including gunpowder. And the conquistadors found metal resources, like gold and silver, in great demand throughout Eurasia. This would turn into a deadly combination of wants and means. (The Americas had what Europe wanted and Europe had the means to get it.)
Fate of the Earliest European Colonies
Being a European colonist in the Americas was oftentimes deadly! Select each colony to learn the colonists’ fate.
La Navidad (1492)
Location: Modern-day Haiti
Situation:
Columbus explored the Caribbean with three ships, one of which was called The Santa Maria. The Santa Maria wrecked. Columbus left behind the 39 survivors for one year.
What happened?
The left-behind crew stole Taino gold, and mistreated and abused the Taino people. Chief Guacanagari got fed up and burned the settlement to the ground. There were no survivors.
Roanoke (1585-1587)
Location: Modern-day Virginia
Situation:
In a terrible misunderstanding, when the Secotans began dying from disease while trading with European colonists, the Secotans sent warriors to surround the colony. Gov. Lane was scared so he beheaded the chief and burnt the Secotan village to the ground. Two years later, Gov. White left the colony’s 115 settlers and promised to return in a year with more food.
What happened?
Three years later, Gov. White returned but no one was there. There was only the message “CROATOAN” which was the name of a tribe formerly enslaved by the Secotans. The leading theory is that the Roanoke colonists were hungry and were welcomed by the Croatoans for killing their enslavers. No one knows if any survived.
Jamestown (1607-1610)
Location: Modern-day Virginia
Situation:
105 men and boys arrived in Jamestown. They built a fort to defend against any attacks. The Captain decided they were well-off enough for him to return to England to get more supplies. Three years later, the new Governor arrives to find the colony in shambles.
What happened?
The settlers drank salty, slimy water and got too sick to work. Powhatan, the Algonquin chief, gave the settlers food gifts, but there was a drought and not enough food for both groups. The settlers were so afraid of attack that they shut down the fort and starved. Only 38 people survived.
St. Croix (1608)
Location: Present-day Maine
Situation:
A group of 25 artists, sailors, thieves, fighters, and merchants landed in the river between Canada and USA. The area had fair weather, good soil, plenty of fish and deer, and easy access for shipping. They built forts and were respected by the natives.
What happened?
All their meat was salted, and they only drank melted snow. This led to a Vitamin C deficiency. Their gums swelled and their teeth fell out. The majority could neither walk nor move. Only 8 people survived.
Plymouth (1620)
Location: Modern-day Massachusetts
Situation:
A disease brought by English fishermen and traders had killed the local Indian populace a year earlier, so the 115 colonists (mostly in family groups) initially faced little threat from native peoples. Plymouth town was built on a cleared area that had once been an Indian cornfield.
What happened?
The colonists arrived in the winter. Many of the men were too sick to build homes, which meant the only shelter against New England storms was the boat. Only 57 people survived.
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