colonial exchange during the a

Colonial Exchange during the Age of Discovery The voyages of the Iberians marked history. The discovery of the new world meant the unification of two old worlds. These old worlds had different beliefs, attitudes, language, and values. The culture of these two worlds would never be the same. The native peoples of America at the end of the fifteenth century ranged from the simplest hunting-fishing-gathering societies to highly developed civilizations with urban and peasant components. …

…in the early 1520s; by 1620 the number had fallen to about 600,000. Mexico suffered an equal loss. The population of central and southern Mexico was probably over ten million in the early years of the sixteenth century. Around 1620 to 1625, the numbers were about 730,000. Because the American peoples, long isolated themselves from the rest of humanity and its germs, had no resistance to them. Such disease included smallpox, plague, measles, and many more, even the common cold.