Exchanges Between the Spanish and American Indian Cultures
When the Spanish arrived in the New World, they conquered many of the American Indian tribes living in South and North America. The Spanish and indigenous American cultures exchanged ideas, plants, foods, and animals. This is sometimes called the Columbian Exchange because it began when Christopher Columbus arrived. Some results of the exchange were not planned.
The Spanish Bring Diseases
Along with animals and plants, the Spanish brought new diseases. The deadliest was smallpox. People in Europe had been exposed to the disease as children, so it was easier for them to recover from the disease. People of the New World had no immunity. This means they had never come in contact with the disease before and their bodies could not fight it. Experts think that about 95 percent of all American Indian deaths were caused by diseases. Even something as simple as the flu or measles killed many people.
Exchanging Animals and Plants
The Columbian Exchange also included animals and plants. The Spanish brought horses and donkeys, as well as pigs and cattle, to the New World. American Indians had animals the Spanish had never seen, such as guinea pigs and llamas. In addition, people in the New World relied on several crops new to the Spanish. These included potatoes, squash, tomatoes, and corn. The Europeans brought onions, rice, sugar, and several kinds of grain.
People in the New World had learned how to grow maize, or corn, from a wild grass called teosinte. They trained the grass to make one thick stalk instead of many branches. The ears could then grow larger. Corn was good for both humans and animals to eat. Spanish colonists sent large amounts of the crop to Europe.
Why Geography Matters
The mountains of South America are an example of why the geography of the Western Hemisphere mattered. When the Spanish came to Peru, they found an advanced culture with great wealth. The Incas had successfully used terrace farming. They also built a highway system.
Getting into the capitol city was difficult for the Spaniards and their horses. The mountains protected the capitol and its ruler. Those mountains also cut them off from other people. They had never been exposed to European diseases. When the Spanish arrived in Peru, the first smallpox epidemic wiped out half of the Incas.
Inventions That Changed Everything
The Spanish used several new inventions to help them reach and explore the New World. The Chinese are generally given credit for inventing the compass. It was used in Europe by the end of the 1100s. Without the compass, the Spanish may never have reached the New World. A compass shows direction. The points of the needle, which are magnetic, line up to point North and South. Sailors and explorers used the compass if they could not see the sun or the stars to guide them.
The Spanish also had several advantages in warfare. The Chinese invented gunpowder around the tenth century. When fire was added to the powder, an explosion occurred. Guns could kill more people than the wooden clubs and other weapons the people of the New World used.
In addition, the Spanish had steel swords to use in close combat. In the first ten minutes of one battle against the Incas, Spanish soldiers killed 7,000 Inca soldiers.
American Indian tribes kept tamed animals. They also domesticated plants, such as corn. However, their weapons were no match against Spanish weapons. The Spanish were looking for riches and land. They had not intended to bring disease to the New World. Nor did they expect to gain new animals and plants with their conquest. Their coming to the New World changed their civilization as much as it did that of American Indians.
After reading answer the question, How did inventions play a role in the discovery of the New World and later Spanish occupation? Name the two inventions that most contributed to Spanish occupation. Answer in 2-3 sentences