Megha Majumder

1491 Quotes
And sure it was God's good providence that we found this corn, for else we now not how we should
have done!"
#his $uote is important %ecause corn is a grain domesticated %& indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica in
prehistoric times! #he leaf& stal produces ears which contain seeds called ernels! #hough technicall&
a grain, mai'e ernels are used in cooing as a vegeta%le or starch! #he (lmec and Ma&ans cultivated it
in numerous varieties throughout Mesoamerica! )eginning a%out *+,, )-, the crop spread through
much of the Americas! #he region developed a trade networ %ased on surplus and varieties of mai'e
crops! After .uropean contact with the Americas in the late 1+th and earl& 1/th centuries 0-hristopher
-olum%us1, e2plorers and traders carried mai'e %ac to .urope and introduced it to other countries!
Mai'e spread to the rest of the world, and .urope, %ecause of its a%ilit& to grow in diverse climates, and
was a hard&, useful crop!
All through the coastal forest the 3ndians had 'died on heapes, as the& la& in their houses and the %ones
and sulls upon the several places of their ha%itations made such a spectacles' that to #homas Morton
the Massachusetts woods seemed to %e a 'new found Golgotha' 4 the hill of e2ecutions in 5oman
6erusalem!"
7hen the first .uropeans settled in 8ew .ngland, the& %rought with them more than just strange
customs and novel goods9the& also carried .uropean diseases that spread rapidl& through 8ative
communities! 7ithin twent& &ears of the founding of :l&mouth -olon&, the :e$uots and other southern
8ew .ngland 8ative groups had %een decimated %& virgin soil epidemics9out%reas of .uropean
diseases that 8ative people had never %efore encountered! #wo major epidemics occurred in southern
8ew .ngland in the earl& 1;th centur&! #he first, possi%l& an out%rea of %u%onic plague, too place
during the &ears 1/1/ through 1/19! #he second and more widespread case was the smallpo2 epidemic
of 1/<< and 1/<4, which swept across the entire 8ortheast! 8ative population in 8ew .ngland
plummeted %& over ;,= as a result of these epidemics, and some 8ative groups lost up to 9+= of their
mem%ers!
#he good hand of God favored our %eginnings, %& sweeping awa& great multitudes of the natives!!!that
he might mae room for us!" > )radford
?rom the 1/th centur& through the earl& *,th centur&, no fewer than 9< confirmed epidemics and
pandemics 9 all of which can %e attri%uted to .uropean contagions 9 decimated the American 3ndian
population! 8ative American populations in the American @outhwest plummeted %& 9, percent or
more! #he .uropeans %elieved that the 8atives died %ecause God was on their side! #he 3ndians, on the
other hand, %elieved that God had a%andoned them and looed to the AevidenceA that their healers were
helpless in the face of catastrophic disease out%reas!
.nglish, ?rench, 3talian, @panish, and :ortuguese mariners regularl& plied the coastline, trading what
the& could, occasionall& idnapping the inha%itants for slaves!"
7hen the& got there, the .uropeans used the 8atives as slaves on their sugar fields and to
maintainBgrow their crops! 7hen the natives %egan to die out, the& imported %lac slaves from Africa!
)& the %eginning of the eighteenth centur&, %lac slaves could %e found in ever& 8ew 7orld area
coloni'ed %& .uropeans, from 8ova @cotia to )uenos Aires! 7hile the concentrations of slave la%or
were greatest in .ngland's southern colonies, the -ari%%ean, and Catin America, where slaves were
emplo&ed in mines or on sugar, rice, to%acco, and cotton plantations, slaves were also put to wor in
northern seaports and on commercial farms! 3n 1/9,, one out of ever& nine families in )oston owned a
slave!3t was not inevita%le that .uropeans in the 8ew 7orld would rel& on African slaves to raise
crops, clear forests, and mine precious metals! 3n ever& 8ew 7orld colon&, .uropeans e2perimented
with 3ndian slaver&, convict la%or, and white indentured servants!7h& did ever& .uropean power
eventuall& turn to African la%orD .uropeans imported African slaves partl& for demographic reasons!
As a result of epidemic diseases, which reduced the native population %& +, to 9, percent, the la%or
suppl& was insufficient to meet demand! Africans were e2perienced in intensive agriculture and raising
livestoc and new how to raise crops lie rice that .uropeans were unfamiliar with!3nitiall&, .nglish
colonists relied on indentured white servants rather than on %lac slaves! (ver half of all white
immigrants to the .nglish colonies during the seventeenth centur& consisted of convicts or indentured
servants!As late as 1/4,, there were pro%a%l& onl& 1+, %lacs in Eirginia 0the colon& with the highest
%lac population1, and in 1/+,, <,,! )ut %& 1/F,, the num%er had risen to <,,,, and %& 1;,4, to
1,,,,,! ?aced %& a shortage of white indentured servants and fearful of servant revolt, .nglish settlers
increasingl& resorted to enslaved Africans! )etween 1;,, and 1;;+, more than <+,,,,, Africans slaves
entered the American colonies!
#he 3ndians at :l&mouth would surel& have %een an e$ual o%stacle to m& ancestor and his ramshacle
e2pedition had disease not intervened!"
3mmunit& to .uropean disease would have meant that the 8ative Americans would have had large
$uantities of .uropean livestoc for a ver& long time, long enough to ac$uire a similar level of
resistance that the .uropeans had! Man& of the diseases that ravaged the 8ative Americans had
originated from livestoc whose pathogens made the jump to humans thans to the fact that in the old
word, humans had lived in close pro2imit& with their livestoc! 7hile the disease AtradeA was
somewhat un%alanced in the Americas, Africa and @outhern Asia Agave usA malaria and &ellow fever
while we Agave themA s&philis! Gowever, let us sa& that the& did manage to ac$uire large $uantities of
cattle through trade 0presuma%l& along with the cattle the& would also have o%tained grain from the old
world > wheat and %arle& are nutritionall& superior and easier to cultivate than mai'e1, and had the
livestoc for sufficient time to develop immunit&! 8atives who happened to %e living in a climate that
was appropriate for growing such crops would have %enefitted the most, while groups living in less
clement climates would most pro%a%l& have retained a certain degree of hunter>gathering! 3n all
pro%a%ilit&, due to the fact that the 8ative Americans were divided into several groups, the& might have
%uilt a societ& %ased on farming similar to that in .urope, with several states competing against each
other! #he competition would pro%a%l& have led to further development of %asic technologies of their
own, and possi%l& start trade with the old world! #he 3ncas in particular were an e2cellent candidate for
this! #he most important part of not %eing overrun %& con$uering invaders is that of eeping up with
their technolog&! -ommunication and trade would have %een more of a pro%lem to the 8ative
Americans %ecause there were two large %odies of water %etween them and the old world! #herefore, if,
and this is a %ig if, the natives had also developed trade enough to have good communication with the
old world, the& would have caught up with old world technolog& and old world ideas of how to wage
war more than the& would otherwise have! Gad this happened, the simple stratagems that -orte' and
:i'arro used on the A'tecs and 3ncas would never have wored!