Columbian Exchange History
Columbian Exchange
History of the American Indian
Columbian Exchange
On Christopher Columbus’s second trip he brought items with him from Europe. He planned to colonize the “New World”. This is what started, what is called the “Columbian Exchange”. The term Columbian Exchange came from Alfred W. Crosby in 1972, a social historian. Some of those items he brought were different types of livestock like; horses, pigs, cattle, sheep, goats, chickens and dogs. The livestock that was brought over could be considered a curse and a blessing. The livestock roamed freely and trampled the Indians corn fields and drive the wild game away. For the Navajo’s, sheep and goats became a permanent fixture in their lives. To this day …show more content…
Diseases like smallpox, bubonic plague and cholera. I’m sure some of these disease caused the Indians to think the invaders were cursed. For instance smallpox left boils on the body and left scars if they were lucky enough to survive it. Indians had the tendency to be superstitious. That’s probably where the superstition about black cats being bad luck comes from. It wouldn’t surprise me…my Grandmother and my Mother were and are very superstitious. When my daughter was an infant and I was giving her a bottle, she would sometimes gasp for air because she was drinking her bottle to fast. When she would do this, my Mom would say “blow on her soft spot”. I am talking about the soft spot on the top of her head; all babies have this…of course doing this has nothing to do with anything but that is what my Mother was taught and her Mother before her! It took my Mom a long time to stop telling me this!!! Finally one evening we were eating dinner at my parent house (we didn’t live at home anymore and we just all happen to be there) and my brother started to cough as he was eating. I thought this was the perfect opportunity to show my Mom how ridiculous this was. I told her “quick mom, blow on his soft spot”! We all laughed and it made my Mom furious! She never told me again to “blow on her soft spot”. My god we were all adults…I was 23 when my daughter was born and my brother was 21…this was 20 years ago and you would not believe some of the superstitious beliefs Indians still
History of the American Indian
Columbian Exchange
On Christopher Columbus’s second trip he brought items with him from Europe. He planned to colonize the “New World”. This is what started, what is called the “Columbian Exchange”. The term Columbian Exchange came from Alfred W. Crosby in 1972, a social historian. Some of those items he brought were different types of livestock like; horses, pigs, cattle, sheep, goats, chickens and dogs. The livestock that was brought over could be considered a curse and a blessing. The livestock roamed freely and trampled the Indians corn fields and drive the wild game away. For the Navajo’s, sheep and goats became a permanent fixture in their lives. To this day …show more content…
Diseases like smallpox, bubonic plague and cholera. I’m sure some of these disease caused the Indians to think the invaders were cursed. For instance smallpox left boils on the body and left scars if they were lucky enough to survive it. Indians had the tendency to be superstitious. That’s probably where the superstition about black cats being bad luck comes from. It wouldn’t surprise me…my Grandmother and my Mother were and are very superstitious. When my daughter was an infant and I was giving her a bottle, she would sometimes gasp for air because she was drinking her bottle to fast. When she would do this, my Mom would say “blow on her soft spot”. I am talking about the soft spot on the top of her head; all babies have this…of course doing this has nothing to do with anything but that is what my Mother was taught and her Mother before her! It took my Mom a long time to stop telling me this!!! Finally one evening we were eating dinner at my parent house (we didn’t live at home anymore and we just all happen to be there) and my brother started to cough as he was eating. I thought this was the perfect opportunity to show my Mom how ridiculous this was. I told her “quick mom, blow on his soft spot”! We all laughed and it made my Mom furious! She never told me again to “blow on her soft spot”. My god we were all adults…I was 23 when my daughter was born and my brother was 21…this was 20 years ago and you would not believe some of the superstitious beliefs Indians still