Advantages And Disadvantages Of The Spanish Exposure To The Incas

The exposure that the Spanish had to animals not only benefited them with work and a sustainable source of food, but they also developed immunity to a deadly disease known as smallpox. The Spaniard’s exposure to the smallpox disease, which was due to the proximity their society had to domesticated animals, allowed them to unknowingly use that disease to decimate the entire Incan society. When the exposure of the two societies are compared, the Incas had almost no exposure to domesticated animals, while the Spanish had consistent amounts of exposure due to their geographical location. The Spanish came to Incan lands with about 200 soldiers, and yet they ended up conquering an entire civilization of millions. Instead of fighting them one-by-one, the …show more content…
These all have their own advantages, but with animals also came the exposure to diseases which built immunity for those who lived in geographical locations where there were domesticated animals. Those without these geographical advantages, places like Papua New Guinea and what used to be the Incas were effectively powerless, allowing the Spanish to appropriate their resources and become the most powerful country in the world. While diseases such as smallpox were the largest advantage Eurasian countries had over those who were not exposed to domesticated animals, there was one smaller advantage that definitely helped countries of Eurasia to conquer the world. This is the development of steel. The development of steel affects civilizations by giving those with it a large advantage in forms of weaponry, armor, and information sharing. This crucial resource of steel was only able to be developed by those who won the geographical