Title: The Turning Point: European Conquests of the Americas (1492-1800)
Headings: The Turning Point: European Conquests of the Americas (1492-1800)
The Turning Point: European Conquests of the Americas (1492-1800)
Content: Also, the Aztecs had never seen or used horses, and they found them terrifying to face in battle. Furthermore, Europeans benefitted from living in literate cultures that could easily record and pass down detailed knowledge about navigation, technology, and conquest. But, most importantly, Europeans brought with them deadly diseases that devastated the Aztec and the Inca, and indeed all the native people in North and South America. Massive demographic catastrophe occurred wherever Europeans made contact with indigenous Americans. The pattern was set with the Taino, whom Columbus met on his first voyage to the island of Hispaniola. The original Taino population of about 600,000 in 1492 shrank in just 20 years to under 60,000 (Getz 62). It was common to see a drop of 90 percent or more in native populations. One hundred years after the conquest of Mexico, the indigenous population had decreased from twenty-five million to one million (68). In Peru, the Inca met a similar fate. This pandemic severely depopulated or wiped out all natives of the Americas.