Illnesses During The Columbian Exchange

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The Columbian Exchange was the exchange of goods, people, and ideas from the Old World to the New World. Along with goods, people, and ideas being exchanged, illness was exchanged as well and had a terrible effect on the Native population. Diseases like smallpox and the flu were spreading around like a wildfire, and even the common cold was deadly. While the Columbian Exchange was good to spread ideas, goods, and people from east to west, it also spread disease that wiped out a big percentage of the Native population.
Before the Europeans came to the Americas, the Native Americans already had illnesses of their own. Famine-associated illnesses spread across the population in waves, leaving the population constantly growing and declining. Most of their illnesses were easy to treat using herbal remedies. These illnesses included roundworms, tape worms, and even the most common modern illness, arthritis. This all changed when the Europeans set foot in the New World. …show more content…
As Europeans began to explore to the New World, diseases such as small pox, measles, malaria, yellow fever, influenza, and chicken pox made their way to the west. Since these illnesses and diseases were new to the Native American population, they were more deadly than any of the other diseases the population had come across. All of the illnesses were airborne or were spread by touch, so it was very easy for the illnesses to spread across the population like a wildfire. This illness epidemic caused 90% of the Native American population to die out.
The Native American population wasn’t the only population affected by illness. The Europeans were affected by syphilis. However, it was mainly transferred amongst the Europeans themselves instead of being transferred to the Native Americans. Europeans were also affected by roundworms and tape worms, something the Natives were already accustomed

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