After the discovery of the Americas, the accounts and the chronicles by the men who discovered the New World amazed the Europeans of the 16th and 17th centuries. Europe, with its long history, was suddenly eager to learn more about the people of the New World. It did not take long before some Europeans moved and settled in the New World.
Because of this, several changes were witnessed both in the New World and in the Old World. This article evaluates the course’s theme found in the attached videos using the book Broken Spears. Through this, human interactions in the Americas during the 16th and the 17th century will be exposed.
The videos focus on the Columbian exchange and the Atlantic slave trade. As such, the videos’ main theme is about human interactions in the Americas. In the video, John Green asserts that slavery is as old has human civilization. Unlike other slavery incidences in the human history, Green believes that Atlantic slave trade was the worst of all (The Atlantic Slave Trade).
The Atlantic slave trade resulted in thousands of African slaves being transported to the new world to work in the farms and factories. These slaves were treated in an inhumane manner.
On the other hand, Green asserts that Columbian exchange resulted in tremendous interactions in the New World and the Old World. The continent of America had been isolated from the rest of the world before the earliest European explorers encountered it. After its discovery, European settlers moved in taking with them new plants and animals, which have changed the continent (The Columbian Exchange).
These arguments can be evidenced from the book Broken Spears. The effects of Spaniards expansion of the Aztec Empire in prehistoric Mexico are detailed in the book (Portilla 6). The book asserts that when the Spaniards arrived in Mexico, the natives were surprised at them. Some of the natives thought that the Europeans were gods. King Motecuhzoma and his followers were scared of the Europeans animals, plants, and weapons.
It was not long before a war broke out between the Aztecs and the Spaniards. During the war, other native Indians who had sided with the Spaniards astonished the Aztecs. Although the Aztecs had won considerable support from other Indians, a plaque disease broke out and killed most of the residents in their city. The Spaniards who had brought the disease took advantage of the situation and destroyed the Aztecs city before killing them.
Through the above description, it is apparent that the European and the native interactions during the 16th and the 17th century resulted in many negative effects as suggested by Green.
As such, the European settlement resulted in conflicts among the native tribes and among the native tribes and the European settlers. As illustrated in the book, the native Indians who sided with the Spaniards made new enemies with the other native tribes. Because of their expansion into other communities’ territories, the conflict between the European settlers and the natives emerged.
As illustrated above, the Europeans and the Native Americans interactions in the 16th century made the diseases that had been prevalent in Europe reached the Americas. Because of this, numerous natives succumbed to the diseases reducing on their population. Generally, the Native Americans were the most affected from these interactions. As their number reduced from the Europeans killings and disease outbreaks, Europe was celebrating the discovery of new plants exported from America such as maize and sweet potatoes.
Works Cited
Portilla, Miguel. The broken spears: the Aztec account of the conquest of Mexico. Boston: Beacon Press, 2007. Print.
The Atlantic Slave Trade: Crash Course World History #24 . Dir. John Green. Perf. John Green. You Tube , 2012. Film.
The Columbian Exchange: Crash Course World History #23 . Dir. John Green. Perf. John Green. You Tube, 2012. Film.