Health and Disease in Pre-Columbian North America

            For the blog I decided to look at Native-Americans and disabilities that they faced. If you had lived in North America in the 15^th to 16^th centuries you were living in the pre-Columbian era.  A time before Europeans had settled, there were a group of peoples living there. These people are the Native-Americans, and in like all living things and humans there are disease and health issues throughout a population. Some of the problems are similar in different cultures or parts of the world, and some may only be familiar with the Native-Americans, but regardless they exist.  I found two scholarly sources that talked about the health and disease that existed within the Native-American population during this time and the causes of it. 

            The first Columbian voyages made to North America have been very deadly to the Native Americans that inhabited that land at the time. The Native-Americans had lived life in a way and dealt with whatever death, disease and sickness they had. When the Europeans came in the early 15^th century, for a just a ‘visit’ they brought very different types of diseases to these people and therefore they had no idea how to protect themselves from it and had no remedies for those who did catch it (Ramenofsky, 2003). These diseases would include different viruses, bacteria, and even some parasites. But even before the Europeans brought these diseases upon the Native-Americans they had already suffered from Tuberculosis (infectious lung disease) and epidemic syphilis (widespread sexually transmitted disease)(Steckel, 2005). Although tuberculosis is a killer and syphilis if not treated can also kill you, this was the only main worry that the Native-Americans had to deal with at the time. When the Europeans came they brought many more horrors that lead to many more mass deaths.

            Reading about this made me really think about how the Europeans made a very hard life for the Native-Americans, in more ways than one. Not only did the Europeans take them and put them in residential camps, but they had started out by giving them tons of diseases that they had never had before. They had taken away their freedom and health and gave them nothing but disease and sadness, then abandoned them without any further words or assistance. What happened to them back in the 15^th century was repeated a long time after but in a different way. I can see a very nice pattern in how Europeans treated Native-Americans, and even to some point still treat. The Native-Americans deserve so much from this.

            Overall there was more harm done and more diseases spread when the Europeans first came to find the mysterious land of American than before. Then when the Europeans came back, like we learned about in class, even more damage was done. They were stripped of rights, put into residential schools and basically dehumanized. Damage that will take a lot of time before healing and forgiveness will be given out. Although these two things happened far apart in different eras they are very similar and are easily relatable, and it is very unfortunate to write about.

            

By: Chelsea L

 

Ramenofsky, A. (2003). Archaeology of Epidemic and Infectious Disease. Native American disease history: past, present and future directions, 35 (2), 241-257.

Steckel, R.H. (2005). Journal of Interdisciplinary History, XXXVI: I. Health and Nutrition in Pre-Columbian America: The Skeletal Evidence, 36 (1), 1-32.