Decline Of American Culture Essay

The invasion of various European powers into the area of the American Southeast brought about changes within the Native populations. The population of the Southeast was estimated to be between 1.3 and 4 million Native Americans, before European contact. After contact, the population plummeted to 200,000, mainly from disease (Saunt, 1986). Another factor that contributed to the decline of the population was that there were less able-bodied people to collect food and water. Since the Natives could not feed themselves, many died of starvation and dehydration before the disease killed them (Saunt, 1986). With the rapid death of many people, hierarchies began to collapse and be rebuilt. The first documented epidemic comes from the survivors of the expedition lead by Pánfilo de Narveáez in 1527. Soon after landing in Florida, most of the expedition team died from either disease or attacks from the Natives. The deaths included Pánfilo de Narveáez and there was only four survivors, one of which was Cabeza de Vaca (Saunt, 1986). Hernando de Soto began his journey just over a decade later, after Narveáez in 1539. De Soto’s excursion into the Southeast was apparently more …show more content…
With the influx of goods, the Indians ideas of who was wealthy or poor suddenly changed. Before, the wealthy were old and well established families, but with the introduction of manufactured goods that idea changed. Previously poor families could become rich in the eyes of their fellow villagers by owning numerous European goods. The goods would increase a person’s wealth, power, or prestige (Saunt, 1986). This threw the established order into chaos with the rise of new families, because it undermined the existing hierarchies. The previous leaders saw a decline in their power and most eventually lost all political power to the rise of the new warrior class. This warrior class was comprised of the hunters that traded with the