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Difficulty: MediumThe Columbian Exchange

Source: Thomas Harriot, English astronomer and member of the Roanoke expedition, *A Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia*, 1588.

"Within a few days after our departure from every such town, the people began to die very fast, and many in a short space; in some towns about twenty, in some forty, in some sixty, and in one six score, which in truth was very many in respect of their numbers. ... The disease also was so strange, that they neither knew what it was, nor how to cure it; the like by report of the oldest men in the country never happened before, time out of mind."

The phenomenon described in the excerpt most directly contributed to which of the following developments in the Americas?

  1. A
    The transmission of New World pathogens to European colonizers, which led to a demographic crisis in major European port cities.
  2. The severe decline of Indigenous populations, which destabilized local societies and facilitated subsequent European colonization.Answer
  3. C
    The formation of a unified political coalition among all North American tribes to collectively resist European settlement.
  4. D
    The immediate Spanish replacement of the encomienda system with a system of free wage labor for Indigenous survivors.

Answer

The severe decline of Indigenous populations, which destabilized local societies and facilitated subsequent European colonization.
The introduction of Old World diseases to the Americas resulted in a catastrophic demographic collapse of Indigenous populations, who lacked immunity to pathogens such as smallpox and measles. This severe population decline disrupted social, political, and economic structures within native societies, making it significantly easier for European powers to establish colonies and conquer territories.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the stimulus document to identify the central historical event described.
The excerpt by Thomas Harriot describes a strange and unprecedented disease that rapidly killed many Indigenous people shortly after European contact.
Understanding the source's content is necessary to establish the historical context of the Columbian Exchange.
2
Evaluate the options to identify which historical development is direct evidence or a consequence of this event.
The massive decline in Native American populations due to Old World diseases weakened their societies and facilitated European conquest and colonizing efforts.
Connecting the epidemiological impact of the Columbian Exchange to its political and social consequences is a core historical analysis skill.

Key Concept

The Columbian Exchange
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The Columbian Exchange

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