BLOG 6

BLOG # 6

Chapters: 14, 15 & 16

            This week we read chapter 14 on Empires and Encounters and, chapter 15 which was about Global Commerce, and chapter 16 which was on Religion and Science. Although all three chapters where full of interesting information, the one that interested me the most was chapter 14.  Talking about maritime expansion voyages that took place in the early 16^th century. The story that is taught in every history class is the voyage and conquered territory of the US by Christopher Columbus. When people say that Christopher Columbus discovered the new world I always want to tell people that statement is not really true. Although Europeans conquered this land, in all reality they invaded what was already the home of Native Americans. Going even further into the chapter it leads into the section on the Great Dying. Although this event is a combination of many factors the main idea to get from this is that through the invasion of the US by Europeans, we spread diseases to the Native Americans that caused their population to dramatically decrease. “Long isolation from the Afro Eurasian world and the lack of most domesticated animals meant the absence of acquired immunities to Old World diseases, such as smallpox, measles, typhus, influenza, malaria, and yellow fever” (Strayer pg. 407). Reading about this chapter made me reminisce on the childhood movie that a loved as a child, Pocahontas. Watching that movie makes it seem like Europeans coming to America was always good, along with plays during the times of Thanksgiving when they show the pilgrims and Indians coming together peacefully at a table to have a feast. Reading this chapter portrayed the complete opposite. As a child they do not tell you of all the brutality and suffering that the Native Americans had to endure.  It is sad that entire tribes have died out and that land that was once theirs is still conquered by those who invaded it. Even the Native Americans who managed to survive and develop the necessary immunities needed for the spread of diseases, life still was not easy. They were forced to adapt to European ways of life and convert to religions such as Christianity. Even today there are few numbers of distant generations of those that once roamed the US territory before it was discovered and conquered by Christopher Columbus and other voyagers in search of a new world.