Answer to Question #228154 in History for NEO

Question

What difficulties do historians encounter in using Columbus’ journals and 16^th-century European engravings as sources for understanding the encounter between European explorers and indigenous peoples of the New World c. 1492 (The Americas)? How would you advise historians to approach these sources?

Answer 1

Overview. Colonization ruptured many ecosystems, bringing in new organisms while eliminating others. The Europeans brought many diseases with them that decimated Native American populations. Colonists and Native Americans alike looked to new plants as possible medicinal resources.