Native Americans During The Columbian Exchange

At the beginning of the Columbian Exchange, native Americans were weakened by disease brought by the conquerors, reducing their population by millions. It would have been impossible, in such a short amount of time, for the conquerors to subdue millions of people with only hundreds of soldiers, even with their horses and guns, unless natives were somehow weakened. It is because of this that J.R. McNeill (n.d.) stated, “By far the most dramatic and devastating impact of the Columbian Exchange followed the introduction of new diseases into the Americas.” Diseases like smallpox, typhus fever, or measles, among many others, were the silent monsters that almost completely annihilate American native populations. Two examples of the destructive nature