January Tuesday 19, 2010 The Contours of Contact Conquest of the Tenochitlan In 1519, Cortez makes his way to the capital of the Aztec empire which had around 1.5 million people. Cortez had 500 men and 16 horses. He was received into the city and then later kicked out by the Aztec. He returned to the gulf coast with reinforcements and tried to conquer the city with limited supplies and succeeded. Desoto lands in 1539 and his army spends four years wandering. They crossed the Mississippi in 1541. Then Desoto dies and the army makes their way back to Cuba. Around this time, the mounds society began to collapse. The societies fall apart. How? Advantages o Technologies, They Europeans had firearms, which are difficult to use, but still somewhat affective. They also had horses, and tools made from iron. o Diseases Small pox was the most deadly. It killed millions of people in the 16 th century. It occurred around 1493-1525. Some of the diseases include influenza, jaundice, fevers, and syphilis. Then in 1518-1525, the first small pox epidermis broke out and killed the Aztecs. Small Pox was in the valley of Mexico and spread to the continent of North America. If you catch it, you grow immunity. However the chance of being affected is 80 % if you have never caught it. 40% of that 80% could die from it. o Death Rates Hurons (Great Lake region) 1600: 35000, 1640: 10000 Martha's vineyard ( Coast of Massachusetts) 1642: 3000, 1674: 1500, 1698:1000 Illinois 1670: 10500, 1700: 6000 o Surprise attacks o Some Indians thought Europeans were Gods. Europeans were smarter. They were more experienced, and had better strategy. Most of them were soldiers. Disadvantages o The Europeans don't know the terrain. o They have limited resources as they were fighting wars thousands miles away from the home base. o They had a lack of communication between home. o New world diseases kill Europeans. o The Europeans are outnumbered; millions of Native Americans, around 60 to 70 million and thousands of Europeans. Why was this disease so particularly devastating to Indians and not to Europeans and Africans? No natural immunity, The Native Americans have no natural inherent immunity. The process of evolution causes people in the old world had lived with it for a while to be immune to them. Europeans had a genetic mutation that allowed them to fight off
this disease. Problem is that there is no difference in the immune responses in old world people and Indians. ( less Likely) Genetically immune similar systems, Indians are more closely related to each other than the people of the old world. The disease evolves and develops a resistence to similar immune systems, so the next one to catch the virus will be even worse than the one before, meaning that they are twice as likely to die. Indians do not have a high genetic diversity. ( More Likely) Virgin soil epidermis (populations had never been exposed), describes when a population is exposed to a virus for the first time. In Europe, children are the ones catching the disease and dying. Indians, the entire populations are catching the disease, (Certain) Why weren't there American diseases that were just as deadly to Europeans and Africans? Cities arose later in the Americas. o So it was easier for viruses to take out communities then cities. It cannot survive in hunting/ gathering populations. Increase of population density in Europe than in the Americas, so viruses had not developed enough in the Americas. o Europeans had better plants to experience with. It takes a long time for plants to be domesticated enough to relay upon it for survival. Only thing new world had was corn. o The Old world stretched out wider and further, than tall. It is easier for crops to spread east and west than north and south, because of temperature. It is also easier to find plants, seed plants, and spread them throughout the world. Few domesticated animals o Most viruses come from other animals, in specific domesticated animals. They are more domesticated animals in Europe which live in very close quarters with the people. o Domesticated animal viruses can mutate and cross between animals. Examples are Measles shared with cattle (rinderpest) and dogs Smallpox shared with cattle ( cowpox ) Flu shared with pigs, ducks and horses Malaria shared with birds, chickens and ducks o New world only had llamas, dogs and fouls that they domesticated. What can the Indians do? Indians fled from the disease, which spreads it even more. Indians can try to treat it with familiar medicine, but the medicine is worse than the disease. They can pray but it doesn't help, they will start to lose faith because the Europeans don't catch it. They turn to Europeans for help. They can wage war with Europeans and blame them for it. Language and community can die out easily, there's not enough people. Hundreds of communities disappeared before the Europeans could arrive. Languages and cultures disappeared as well as knowledge.