1answer.
Ask question
Login Signup
Ask question
All categories
  • English
  • Mathematics
  • Social Studies
  • Business
  • History
  • Health
  • Geography
  • Biology
  • Physics
  • Chemistry
  • Computers and Technology
  • Arts
  • World Languages
  • Spanish
  • French
  • German
  • Advanced Placement (AP)
  • SAT
  • Medicine
  • Law
  • Engineering
Grace [21]
3 years ago
12

How did the Europeans’ view of the New World and the Native Americans change over time, if at all?

Advanced Placement (AP)
1 answer:
Temka [501]3 years ago
7 0

Answer:

"The European presence in America spurred countless changes in the environment, negatively affecting native animals as well as people. The popularity of beaver-trimmed hats in Europe, coupled with Native Americans’ desire for European weapons, led to the overhunting of beavers in the Northeast. Soon, beavers were extinct in New England, New York, and other areas. With their loss came the loss of beaver ponds, which had served as habitats for fish as well as water sources for deer, moose, and other animals. Furthermore, Europeans introduced pigs, which they allowed to forage in forests and other wildlands. Pigs consumed the foods on which deer and other indigenous species depended, resulting in scarcity of the game native peoples had traditionally hunted.

European ideas about owning land as private property clashed with indigenous people's understanding of land use. Native Americans did not believe in private ownership of land; instead, they viewed land as a resource to be held in common for the benefit of the group. Colonizers erected fields, fences, and other means of demarcating private property. Indigenous people who moved seasonally to take advantage of natural resources now found areas off-limits, claimed by colonizers.

Colonists trading furs of overhunted beavers. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Introduction of disease

Perhaps the single greatest impact of European colonization on the North American environment was the introduction of disease. Microbes to which native inhabitants had no immunity caused sickness and death everywhere Europeans settled. Along the New England coast between 1616 and 1618, epidemics claimed the lives of 75 percent of the indigenous people. In the 1630s, half of the Huron and Iroquois people living near the Great Lakes died of smallpox. The very young and the very old were the most vulnerable and had the highest mortality rates. The loss of the older generation meant the loss of knowledge and tradition, while the deaths of children only compounded the trauma.

Some indigenous people perceived disease as a weapon used by hostile spiritual forces, and they went to war to exorcise the disease from their midst. These “mourning wars” in eastern North America were designed to gain captives who would either be adopted or ritually tortured and executed to assuage the anger and grief caused by loss.

An engraving by Samual Eastman of Native Americans afflicted by disease. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

New plants make new medicines

European expansion in the Americas led to an unprecedented movement of plants across the Atlantic. A prime example is tobacco, which became a valuable export as the habit of smoking took hold in Europe. Another example is sugar. Columbus brought sugarcane to the Caribbean on his second voyage from Spain in 1493, and thereafter a wide variety of other herbs, flowers, seeds, and roots.

Notably, Europeans traveled to America to discover new medicines. The task of cataloging the new plants found there led to the emergence of the science of botany. Early botanists included the English naturalist Sir Hans Sloane, who traveled to Jamaica in 1687 and there recorded hundreds of new plants.

Early English botanist Hans Sloane. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Native Americans, who possessed a vast understanding of local New World plants and their properties, would have been a rich source of information for those European botanists seeking to find and catalog potentially useful plants. Enslaved Africans, who used medicinal plants in their native land, adapted to their new surroundings by learning the use of New World plants through experimentation and from the indigenous inhabitants. Native Americans and Africans employed their knowledge effectively within their own communities."

-khan academy

Explanation:

You might be interested in
Carrying capacity can vary depending on environmental conditions.<br> True or False
Mamont248 [21]

Answer:

True

Explanation:

If the land is normally able to support 100 animals and there is a flood, the carrying capacity would drop because the number of plants would decrease because they would drown.

3 0
3 years ago
Can a moderator delete my acc for me plz?
algol13

Answer:

thx for ur points dude ~

Explanation:

and why r u leaving the app ?

5 0
3 years ago
Read 2 more answers
PLZ HELP MEH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Murljashka [212]

What do you need help with?

5 0
3 years ago
Read 2 more answers
APUSH HELP! NEED ANSWERS ASAP!!!!
Strike441 [17]

Answer: its c

Explanation:

8 0
3 years ago
Explain ONE specific way in which imperialism affected the development of the domestic economies of imperial states.
Makovka662 [10]

Answer:

One specific way in imperialism affected the development of the domestic economies of imperial states is explained below in detail.

Explanation:

Imperialism negatively attacked the colonies. Under the external rule, indigenous culture and commerce were slaughtered. Shipped goods washed out local craft businesses. By using colonies as reservoirs of raw materials and warehouses for mass-produced goods, colonial authorities held back the colonies from expanding industries.

8 0
2 years ago
Other questions:
  • How was the contemporary legislative branch responded to factions? Note both positive and negative examples please
    9·2 answers
  • Which of these describes an item for which a change in its supply is proportional to a change in its price ?
    14·1 answer
  • Gary is using several charts and tables to learn about patterns of migratory birds. Which information reference is he
    15·2 answers
  • What are the key steps required for an individual to vote (govt class)
    8·1 answer
  • La divina comedia costumbres
    11·1 answer
  • What was ernest hilgards contribution to psychology
    15·1 answer
  • What happened in the Scopes Monkey Trial?
    14·1 answer
  • Which of the following map types is BEST used for comparison?
    9·1 answer
  • Free brainliest to the first who answers and 100 points!!!!! also a thanks and a five star
    12·2 answers
  • The velocity of circulation is 4 and the quantity of money is $3 billion.
    9·1 answer
Add answer
Login
Not registered? Fast signup
Signup
Login Signup
Ask question!