Dear Mrs. Chang,
I write this letter to you, hoping that you are in good health. The last time we met, you were very hearty, and I hope nothing has changed. All in all, I finally started university in America, albeit almost everything is online. But that has not deterred me from studying and gaining knowledge, particularly in history. We have an outstanding professor by the name of Professor Angela Perez-Villa. She is a very experienced and knowledgeable person, and I am already learning a lot from her. This letter will showcase how historical events are interconnected and eventually lead directly onto one another.
In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, this story starts with one of the first documented pandemics: the bubonic plague or rather the Black Death. The bubonic plague started in the mid-1300s and had far-reaching consequences that reached most European nations and even Asian ones. It needs no explanation that the Black Death killed many people, with historians suggesting a death count of approximately 100 million and halving Europe’s population at the time. The Black Death resulted in a decline in feudalism, which led to a more mercantile culture and economy. And would you believe it, this led to increased exports and most importantly, exploration.
The zeal for exploration led to the “discovery” of the Americas by the Europeans, mainly the Spanish and the Portuguese. Among these explorers include the likes of Columbus and Goncalo Coelho. However, the most important thing was the effect these explorers had on the surrounding New World at the time. At the time in South America, two powerful empires are the Inca and the Aztecs. The story of the Spanish conquest of the Inca is quite exciting and sad at the same time. Francisco Pizarro, a Spanish conquistador, was fortunate as he landed he found the empire in an ongoing civil war. Atahualpa had recently defeated his brother in a civil war for the right to rule. Therefore, weakened Pizarro conquered the region with substantially fewer men. Furthermore, it is essential to note that the Europeans came with new diseases that significantly led to the decline of the region’s population. Europeans had far-reaching consequences in the Americas, which resulted in population, religious and economic effects still felt to this very day.
Lastly, slavery is one of the vilest yet documented components of history. From the lessons that our professor has been giving us, it is essential to note that slavery, albeit not started by European’s occupation of the Americas. This comes as a result of two critical things: newer opportunities for profit and the population decline. The Americas were blessed with both great climate and even natural resources such as gold, silver, to name a few. However, Europeans had done significant damage to the native population in the area either by direct conquests or the spread of foreign diseases. Therefore, to fill this gap, they turned on to slavery whereby black men and women were filled in ships in the greatest forced migration in history. Africans were believed to be stronger and less likely to revolt and were forced to work in mines and farms in the most inhumane conditions ever experienced. This was further enhanced because the Americas became significant producers in the global economy, and the thirst for relatively free labor increased.
I would say it is quite shocking that tragedy led to more tragedy. That is the Black Death, which caused vast masses of deaths in Europe effectively led to the end of many native individuals in the Americas as well as the untold suffering among slaves. Nonetheless, I have to say learning history is delightful, and I hope to learn more about what happened and how it affects things today. I want to finish my letter here. I hope that you will send a reply soon. Thank you for your time.
Yours faithfully,
Jingjie Yang.