European colonization had both a positive and negative force in the world however, the negatives proved to be more dominant. Over this past unit, we looked at several countries all over the world and how they were impacted by the colonization of Europe. In each region the diseases, the idea of slavery and the wars fought all were huge negative forces that left a huge impact of the development of each society.

The diseases were very prominent because they were constantly bringing the population count down. When the Europeans made new settlements in new lands, they were disrupting the people already living there. Europeans contained and were immune to many different diseases that the native people were not used to, so most of the time they would get deadly sick. For example, in Mexico, when the Europeans first colonized, they infected the natives with small pox and typhus. It was known as an epidemic, many people unnecessarily lost their lives because of these new settlers. In the Caribbean Islands, hospitals everywhere were undeveloped so when the Europeans brought on Tuberculosis, there was no efficient way of treatment. One other example from on of the regions we looked at, was South America. They underwent an epidemic, much like in Mexico, only their’s consisted of a sickness known as the measles. Many other diseases had numerous effects on other regions all across the world and all of it happened because of these strange Europeans.

Generally, the Europeans would get very frustrated at the people getting sick because one of the reasons they wanted the land was for slaves and if all the people were sick, they wouldn’t be able to work as hard. However, in the Caribbean, they would be very cruel and male those who were sick work on days end. In Mexico they would kill off the natives and then keep a select few to work for them, so they could live their new lives in luxury. Some places did not go to quite those extremes. In India, the Europeans who had come over- they decided that they were the rightful citizens of the land so they demoted the native people to only having a half citizenship and often times that meant using them as slaves.

One way that the people were able to get more slaves was through war, yet there were still other reasons for war- the people always found ‘good’ reasons for war. Those reasons always seemed to circle back around to possessions like land or money. In South America, a man by the name of Franscisco Pizarro, was killed and during his life he had acquired a plentiful amount of wealth, so people all over were fighting, breaking out in small wars- simply to acquire his belongings. In the Caribbean Islands there was always competition between the landowners, occasionally pirates. Just like in South America, The Caribbean would experience constant fighting and small wars over territories, slowly tearing down the structure and stability of their countries. Finally, in India, the Supoi Rebellion took place. It was a forceful rebellion (war) lead by the Indian people against the invasive Europeans to try and make themselves known in their own country. This war lead to a great loss of money that left India struggling financially for years.

Looking at these three main points: diseases, the idea of slavery, and wars you can see the negative affects that all those things had. Just to give you an idea, here are some of the positives that came from these three points. The diseases that were happening lead to people trying harder to find cure and vaccinations, as well as constantly improving the qualities of hospitals to avoid further problems. The idea of slavery helped control the population, preserve the social work class system and it helped the Europeans greatly by allowing them to establish a business identity for themselves. It also allowed them to spread their culture faster because they were the ones who held the authority. The wars had a positive affect on the countries because it allowed them to bounce back stronger each time as well as establish allies with other countries so that if they were attacked from the outside they would have protection. While all these topics have both positive and negative sides to them, the negatives greatly outweigh the positives because they had a longer lasting effect on the countries. When Europe was colonizing and these countries went through the negatives, it helped them each become stronger in their own ways, allowing more positive effects to come out of them- therefore the negatives overcome the positives because the negative experiences that each country went through with the Europeans allowed positives to come out of them.

SOURCES:

“3_3 European Disease in the New World.” 3_3 European Disease in the New World. Web. 16 Feb. 2016.
“Colonialism and the Spread of Diseases – Boundless Open Textbook.” Boundless. Web. 16 Feb. 2016.
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