Primary Document Analysis
Introduction
The Inception of the New World Primary sources plays a huge role in a person who is researching on a historical event since they relay first-hand information. The American Yawp conveys information about the inception of the United States of America and how it was formed into a web of violence and oppression of the people who were already living in the state. The America Yawp is an important primary source as it gives a real sense to the reader on what happened in the past. It helps the reader to get a deeper understanding of historical events and through research, the reader gains additional evidence. The reason of using the American Yawp is because it explores the American history and particularly the warfare between Native Americans and Europeans. The documents ‘The New World’ and the ‘Colliding Cultures’ focus on life Native American life and the conflict which led to the arrival of Europeans in America. The documents, with support from other primary sources assert that American history is understood by focusing on Native Americans who developed American culture and values. However, when Europeans arrived they transformed the American through the Columbian Exchange. Even though the Columbian exchange primarily focused on combining the New World with Europeans, American was affected by diseases. The document explains how the Columbian exchange led to disparate results and how American was affected.
The Europeans saw the country as a vast space that was open for conquering. The perception led to the introduction of an era that connected over ten thousand years of separation and introduced centuries of war while releasing a biological weapon which has never been conceived in the human history [1].The conquest of the America was the beginning of one of the consistent progress of the people in the history. 3 The Native Americans were the first people to settle in America, and their beliefs were passed down through their stories that tried to find a logical explanation on how they came to be while exposing the values and the things that they believed in. Historians and archeologists, however, argue that the Native Indians also conquered the country and were not the original owners as well. The archeologists have used their artifacts and bones as well as their genetic makeup to trace the people of Native Americans as individuals who were highly mobile before settling in the country and making it their home [2].
The conquest by other migrants was however not an easy thing as the native Americans solidly defended themselves, despite their vulnerable defense systems due to high mortality that was as a result of diseases and constant attack by the Europeans. The diseases were a challenge for the Native Americans since they had no established methods of managing the conditions. When the Native Americans saw that there was minimal chance of them winning the constant attacks, they were prudent enough to adapt to the ways of the new colonialists. The Native Americans saw the need to accommodate the Spaniards who were one of the major forces that were interested in the New world as they aptly described it [3]. When the victory of the Spaniards was known, the Spaniards who yearned for wealth, land and the possibilities of even learning titles became apparent; they streamed in throngs to the America. The now superior Spain imposed the Native Americans to work on the estates, through a legal process known as Encomienda. Once Bartolome wrote an account of the injustices that the people faced, and it became public, the authorities ditched the laws of the Encomienda and replaced it with repartimiento that was though as softer than its predecessor. 4 From the stated events of the Spaniards under the rule, it is evident that the colonialism of America was a breeding ground for the horrors which was characterized by a trail of unwarranted deaths and pointless oppression that exposed aspects such as murder, glutton, and slavery.
The diseases were, however, one of the deadliest things that happened to the American people with archeologists estimating it to be responsible for over 20 million deaths. An average of ninety-five percent of Native Americans died at what has been nicknamed as the Black deaths. The perishing with almost all tribes was attributed to the lack of exposure and defense since it was a relatively a new phenomena for them [4]. Historians such as Henry Dobyns assert the fact the disease was the sole influence that made the Europeans conquer the natives. Diseases such as smallpox, typhus, flu measles and mumps spread fast and killed the people in equal measure all over the continent while wreaking havoc amongst members of the various communities and in others, wrecking them [5]. The diseases were so horrendous and when combined with a culture that was a synonym for violence, it becomes a subject for wiping the whole population. It was so astonishing to the archeologists that the people and the human species were not wiped in totality.
The documents from the American Yawp play a significant role in exploring the historical events in America. For example, the documents focus on Native American history and the rise of warfare with Europeans. ‘The New World’ tells that that American history was created by Native Americans who developed the American values. The ‘colliding culture reader’ shows that the Native people expressed aggressive violence which the root causes was the Columbian Exchange. Europeans settlements in the New World led to the rise of new empires and culture collision. Europeans led to destruction of American in that the diseases had a big impact to culture and knowledge. People who could implement technology in the economic system had died[1].
The documents from the American Yawp show that Columbian Exchange which led to the rise in multiculturalism, Native American movement and European imperialism transformed the North American old elites[2]. This has led to the culture wars between North America, Europeans and Indian. The documents are important in that they help the reader understand the emergence of the New World and how the native population was affected by the Europeans settlers. Despite the fact that the Columbian Exchange was between European and Native America, native population were overwhelmed[3]. In 1492, when the New World was discovered, the contact between Europeans and Americans began since the former was against the America. In 16th century, The Spanish attempted to create a colony in the Southern part of North America. In 1570, Spanish created a colony near Chesapeake. The documents moves deeper to the historical context and asserts that European contact led to sufferings to the native peoples and only 5million out of 100million survived in the New World population. In North America, only 375,000 out of 12million people survived [4]. These historical events still have impact in America today as most regions face population declines.
Conclusion
In researching the relationship between Native Americans and Europeans, the America Yawp has deeper historical context which helps the reader understand the events. The threat of the diseases remains to be one of the biggest challenges to the people who lived in that era since they did not have the luxury of managing a particular single disease but rather were unfortunate enough to handle a variety of potentially terminal disease of that era. The black deaths also led to an overhaul of diets worldwide. Americans now held an affinity for the foods that were rich in calories and made an overhaul of the agriculture system. The changes in the diets also led to a population boom that was necessary given 5 the decline because of the black deaths. The colonialism of the Native Indians was, therefore, the start of connection to different worlds and the centuries of history that were apart due to the closing of the Bering while changing the world forever.
Bibliography
Chapters, All. "1. The New World | The American Yawp". Americanyawp.Com.
Last modified 2017. Accessed March 26, 2017. http://www.americanyawp.com/text/01-
the-new-world/.
[1] All Chapters, "1. The New World | The American Yawp", Americanyawp.Com,
last modified 2017, accessed March 26, 2017, http://www.americanyawp.com/text/01-
the-new-world/.
[2] All Chapters, "1. The New World | The American Yawp", Americanyawp.Com,
last modified 2017, accessed March 26, 2017, http://www.americanyawp.com/text/01-
the-new-world/.
[3] All Chapters, "1. The New World | The American Yawp", Americanyawp.Com,
last modified 2017, accessed March 26, 2017, http://www.americanyawp.com/text/01-
the-new-world/.
6
[4] ibid
[5] All Chapters, "1. The New World | The American Yawp", Americanyawp.Com,
last modified 2017, accessed March 26, 2017, http://www.americanyawp.com/text/01-
the-new-world/.
[6] ibid
[7] Sutton Mark. Introduction to Native North America. 2015. Routledge
[8] Starkey Armstrong. European and Native American Warfare 1675-1815
Warfare and History. Routledge
[9] Ibid 25
[10] Ibid 25
[11] Ibid 28
[1] Sutton Mark. Introduction to Native North America. 2015. Routledge pg 17
[2] Starkey Armstrong. European and Native American Warfare 1675-1815
Warfare and History. Routledge pg 25
Starkey Armstrong. European and Native American Warfare 1675-1815
Warfare and History. Routledge pg 25
[3] Ibid pg 25
[4] Ibid pg 28
