Chapter 14 - colonization and the Americas

Chapter 14 is, to me, the most interesting chapter of the text as it begins to explore our country.  It explains how the Native Americans were greatly affected by the European settlers and how Europe was pushed forward by this colonization.

When settlers came to the North East they brought with them many things.  Among them were domesticated animals which flourished in NA due to lack of predators.  They also brought disease.  Apparently 90% of the Native Americans perished due to the diseases brought by the Europeans.  As the Indians had no immune system built for the new problems they were in big trouble.  We often hear about the cowboys killing off the Indians but his chapter suggests it was much worse from disease.  I've taken some classes on Native American culture and it is a real shame to have lost most of these rich cultures.

The chapter amongst many other items references the fact that modernization and metals were brought back to the European communities which helped them advance and ward off the early dominance of the East.

Of course, a major section of the chapter deals with slavery and how blacks were looked upon differently in several countries.  Blacks were basically all the same here, even mulattoes, while in other countries mulattoes that had gained land were passed off as white.

The US was divided into a few areas of rule, mainly French and English with the French controlling much of the center of the states and the English parts of Canada and the south.  Spanish rule was mainly seen in the now Mexican part of NA.  It seemed that the settled areas were more aligned with the controlling countries rather than ruled by them.