“The immediate impact of the arrival of these virulent enemies is evidenced by their overwhelming destruction to American lives.
Where the Europeans had some immunity to these diseases (and were resented for it), the symptoms upon the Indians were horrifying and almost disproportional to today’s standards. A native of the Yucatan wrote of "aching bones," "high fever," "burning chest," "abdominal pain," and "headache" as being nonexistent prior to the arrival of their visitors from Europe. Observations by the Europeans also noted the extreme susceptibility of the Indians. One missionary stated that the Indians seemed to die from merely looking at or smelling a Spaniard. The evidence supports the idea that the disease most often attributed to this devastation was smallpox. There are translations of terminology, the similarity of symptoms, and the presence of pneumonia and pleurisy following the illness—a common event following smallpox. The chain of decimation had begun. Smallpox was compiled with several diseases at a time and wiped out so many Indians that population decreases started to threaten their society. The reduction in numbers allowed the Spaniards to overtake the Indians with less struggle, a blow to the pride of any civilization. As they succumbed to European rule, they were enslaved to work in the fields of their European masters, but even the food supply was threatened by disease and death. Shortage of manpower due to sickness began to mean a shortage of food. Having had no previous knowledge of the new illnesses, the medical professionals of the New World were not able to alleviate the problem, either. Lack of adequate medical care contributed to the snowball.” The passage above describes the results of which process?
The Columbian Exchange was the exchange of a multitude of things between the New World and Old World and it included diseases, which is the main focus of the passage you have given. The Columbian Exchange and its spread of diseases specific to the Natives in the New World were detrimental to their populations.
