chapter 1.1 columbus, the indians, and human progress
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ColumbusTRANSCRIPT
Chapter 1: Columbus, the Indians, and Human Progress Section 1
Leif Erikson
Erikson does get his own holiday to mark his contributions to exploration and, on October 9, the United States officially celebrates Leif Erikson Day by way of observance. In 1964 , Congress authorized and requested the president to create the observance through an annual proclamation. The proclamation about the holiday extends praise not just to Erikson, but to the Nordic people and to the very spirit and appreciation of exploration.
The Columbian Exchange brought a range of diseases like measles, typhus, influenza, malaria, and especially smallpox to the Native American population. The Europeans returned with dogs, llamas, maize, beans, squash, cassava, potatoes, tobacco, and the disease syphilis.
Smallpox had killed more people in the Americas than measles or typhus had. The disease spread mainly from direct contact. The epidemic first began on Hispaniola in the year 1518, and Spaniards carried it mainland by 1520. The disease reached its peak and weakened the city of Tenochtitlan’s defenders. With so many people dying, the city of Tenochtitlan surrendered to the Spaniards. On its site, Mexico City was built. Another epidemic took place after in the coast north of Cape Cod in the years 1616-1618. According to an English traveler, the people “died in heaps as they lay in their houses.”Syphilis is an STD that Europeans had brought to Europe from the Native Americans. It was first recorded in Europe in Barcelona, Spain in the year 1493. This disease spread quickly, and by 1505, it had already spread to China. Although it was not as destructive as smallpox, it weakened the person that had it greatly.
English Nurses tend to Smallpox victims.