By the year 1492, Native Americans were no newcomers to change. Having inhabited the land long before European interaction, Native Americans developed complex civilizations, advancements in science, and forms of government. Constantly evolving and adapting to their habitat Native Americans seemed destined for prosperity. All notions dictated the growth and sustainment of the Native Americans until the year 1492, which is when the sudden doom for their civilization became imminent. From this point on, the weaving of the Old World to the New World had begun. The spindle of European disease was set in motion to be the key factor in the depopulation of Native Americans.
As early as the 1520’s there was already evidence of eradication in the indigenous. When Hernando de Soto entered the Southeast in 1539 he found civilizations wiped out that seemed to have prospered just years before. Hernando de Soto reported “large towns” “overgrown with grass”, signs that the soil for planting was good and civilization had flourished (p49). The sudden and abrupt depopulation of the land from the beginning was concluded to be because of disease. Yet, the disease the indigenous had known before they were able to cope with. Most of the native diseases were not immediately life threatening and they had formed effective therapeutic methods to deal with these diseases. What the Europeans brought along was much more devastating. The “Mystery Illnesses” killed in the thousands (p.48). Ensuring death as it spread through the air, killing and effecting more than any other hardship the Indians faced. The Timucuans who
Native American tribes thrived in America. They had been able to create civilizations that had potential to match those of Europe and that might have even surpassed them in some aspects. The complexity with which they interacted with other tribes created economic growth, but the arrival of European settlers had a huge impact on these communities of isolated ecosystems...
