Jennifer Rodriguez

History
12:00-12:50
Document Paper #1
Native American Population Decline
The direct intervention of the European immigrants with the Native Americans, caused
the Native American population to decline dramatically. European diseases being the number
one reason for the Native American population decline, followed with the Europeans massive
immigration along with their high fertility rates and European warfare with the Native
Americans. The Europeans migration to the Americas was a triumphant achievement for them,
but for the Native Americans it was a hidden disaster that they were about to face.
Through the Europeans exploring and the settling in the Americas brought diseases like
smallpox, measles, and influenza. These diseases were usually associated with the domestic
livestock that the Europeans cared for and lived near placing herds of them in huts or barns.
Europeans raised this livestock to eat and produce milk from which is one reason why they
became immune to such diseases that killed half of the native American population alone. The
Native Americans had llamas, they did not have cows or sheep like the Europeans. The Native
Americans also did not keep large herds of the llamas and did not live alongside them like the
Europeans did by keeping their livestock in barns or huts near their homes. The Europeans lived
in overpopulated areas, thus being exposed to multiple pathogens. The Native Americans usually
did not have over populated areas. The Europeans travelled and traded goods with other
countries like India and Africa, also causing a robust immune system.
Through the efforts of the first successful colony in America, Jamestown, Virginia in
1607. Over the next three hundred years the population of 104 Europeans immigrants would
grow drastically to 75,995,000 in America becoming a massive migration. European immigrants
travelled to America for various reasons such as the puritans coming to America in search of
freedom to practice their faith and others migrating because of economic opportunities. There
were also those who were forced to come to America such as the African slaves. With what

started out as 20 African slaves then grew to 700,000 by 1790. With the agriculture economy,
marriages were started out younger and having large numbers of children. On average a woman
would have seven to eight births. As the numbers of immigrants grew higher in America, the
numbers of the Native Americans declined.
Warfare between the Native Americans and the European immigrants lasted for almost
three hundred years. It reduced a massive amount of the Native American population. Warfare
started with some of the first European explorers like Christopher Columbus, Hernan Cortes, and
Francisco Pizarro. The Europeans were not always first to attack though, coming aboard [on
land], they were assaulted with certain Indians, which charged them within pistol shot, (Jensen
132-136). Many wars broke out because of the European settlers expanding their territories,
pushing the Native Americans farther outward due to the Europeans population that was growing
rapidly.
What the Native Americans did not know was that the Europeans immigration to their
lands would eventually lead to their displacement of just about their entire population through
the horrors of European diseases, the Europeans massive migration along with warfare due to the
fight over territory. In the 1500s there was an estimated 12 million Native Americans, by the
1900s it was estimated 237,000 Native Americans left.

Works Cited
classroom.synonym.com/did-european-migration-affect-native-populations-7034.html
users.humboldt.edu/ogayle/hist110/expl.html
www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2014/03/native-americans-didnt-wipe-europeans-diseases/
en.wilipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_conquest_of_the_Inca_Empire
www.history.com/topics/u-s-immigration-before-1965
freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~riss/hrtg/census.html
historynewsnetwork.org/article/7302
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/american_Indian_Wars
Jensen, Merrill (London: Oxford University Press, 1964) 132-136)