Answer to Question #233609 in History for Nono

Question

What difficulties do historians encounter in using Columbus’ journals and 16th-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

Colonization split too many networks, bringing in new organisms and the same time eradicating others. Due to this the historians face the challenge of renovating the past ideas that past historians and Columbus has required. Historians are challenged by the complexity of the world, and thus seek to use their knowledge of the past to help solve the problems of the present. The Europeans brought many illnesses with them that reduced inherent American populations. Colonists and Native Americans alike looked to new plants as possible healing means. The questions that can challenge the historians are endless, and serious historians thus face the trial of choosing a viable topic. I would therefore advise these historians to think of doing intensive research about these facts to enable them to eliminate the dominant misunderstanding in their data.