Sichler 1

Jacob Sichler
Mr. Yourman
AP USH
15 July 2015
Chapter 1 Essay
When Columbus rediscovered the New World in 1492, both native and non-native
cultures clashed and interacted in response to the new items and ideas given to each other. The
Old World, or Europe, introduced new animals, deadly diseases, and a new religion; while the
New World, or the Americas, contributed an abundant amount of new foodstuffs into Europe.
Both cultures had good things to offer each other, but eventually the Europeans became
acquisitive. It was not a good thing that European culture prevailed, because they systematically
wiped out the isolated cultures of the Americas.
The Old World introduced new animals such as swine, horses, and cattle into the New
World. The one animal which transformed the Native Americans culture was the horse. Horses
were quickly adopted and utilized by the Apache, Sioux, and Blackfoot Indian tribes. Kennedy et
al. describes that the Indians swiftly adopted the horse, transforming their culture into highly
mobile, wide-ranging hunter societies in pursuit of the shaggy buffalo (14). The introduction of
horses was beneficial to the Indians as they adapted their culture to include the use of horses.
The Old World also brought over something much more devastating, diseases. These
debilitating diseases were smallpox, yellow fever, and malaria. Kennedy et al. wrote the Indians
were devoid of natural resistance to Old World sicknesses [so the] Indians died in droves (15).

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These ailments obliterated the native population, and killed natives swifter than the guns of the
Europeans. Since the Indians numbers were severely inferior to that of the Europeans, this
allowed the Europeans to strip the Indians of their native culture and put in its place the
European culture. After the centuries that followed Columbuss explorations, 90 percent of the
Native Americans withered away due to the transmission of these infections. The widespread
devastation due to microbes allowed the Europeans to easily beat the Indians on any front.
The Old World also brought a new religion with them. Europeans, mostly Spanish, had
Christian priests journey into the Americas in order to spread Christianity. The conversions
changed the natives culture tremendously as it created a division between the converted and the
non-converted Indians. It also prevented the spread of native culture as the converted lost touch
with their own heritage. Bartolome displays the loss of heritage in converted Indians in that the
Indian race is not that barbaric, nor are they dull witted or stupid, but they are easy to teach and
very talented in learning all the liberal arts, and very ready to accept, honor, and observe the
Christian religion and correct their sins (as experience has taught) once priests have introduced
them the word of God (1: 4). This was a tremendous change in Indian culture as they converted
to Christianity and lost touch of their own heritage.
The New World introduced amazing crops such as tobacco, maize, beans, tomatoes, and
potatoes to the Old World. The American Pageants authors Kennedy et al. explained that these
new plants eventually revolutionized the new international economy as well as the European
diet, feeding the rapid population growth of the Old World (14). The New World plants
changed the Europeans culture as they yielded more food. Due to the introduction of these new
foods, more people in Europe could focus on other jobs other than farming. This partly
contributed to the Industrial Revolution.

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The fact that the European culture prevailed over the Indian culture is iniquitous. Its
iniquitous because of the horrendous acts they committed during, and after, the colonization of
the Americas. The Europeans had committed acts on natives at almost the same level as Hitler
did to the Jews. The Europeans had unintentionally, and later intentionally, spread diseases that
systematically wiped out entire tribes of Native Americans. The Europeans then converted the
Indians, and so they were convinced their native culture and heritage was wrong, so they stopped
practicing it and stopped passing it on.
The rediscovery of the Americas allowed two unique cultures to interrelate and share new
ideas. The Native Americans from the New World allowed the Old Worlds population to grow
immensely due to new plants that were superior to Old World plants. The Old World Europeans
introduced new animals, namely the horse, Christianity, and three fatal illnesses to the New
World. With the help of the sicknesses the Europeans culture prevailed, but it was not a good
thing because they almost destroyed an entire race of human beings with a unique culture and
heritage.

Works Cited
Kennedy, David and Thomas Bailey. The American Spirit: United States History as Seen by
Contemporaries. Vol. 1. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2006. Print.
Kennedy, David, Lizabeth Cohen, and Thomas Bailey. The American Pageant: A History of the
Republic. 13th ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2006. Print.