Ishi The Last Yahi by Theodora Kroeber

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Importance of studying the catastrophic depopulation brought about by introduced Old World diseases and their social and cultural consequences to the native local populations of America.
In 1942, when Columbus embarked on a journey to discover a new world, he did not have any intention whatsoever to bring misfortunes and suffering to the Native American people. Unfortunately, that is what exactly happened for a very long time after their first interaction with Columbus. It was a severe case of suffering because in some cases, some entire groups of Indian people became extinct.
The purpose of this paper is therefore to explore the importance of studying the depopulation catastrophe brought about by the interaction between the Europeans and the Native populations of America. The social and cultural consequences of the exchange in particular will be the subject of the paper in reference to the book “Ishi in Two Worlds: A Biography of the Last Wild Indian in North America” by Theodora Kroeber.
The pandemics
Because the diseases that resulted from this interaction have been named as the greatest factor in the dismantling the populations, it will be imperative to look at how the diseases were introduced to the populations. This will help the reader understand the impacts of the diseases on the social and cultural aspects of the Native populations.
Epidemic diseases tend to have prevalence in areas with high-density population such as cities and where the involved community is in frequent contact with each other. Also they usually spread more quickly through the most vulnerable way in the group. Eventually, the diseases subsidize after the population becomes adaptive to the affecting pathogen.
Alfred Crosby, a historian believed that this infection was a special in that it was found in very isolated regions in the world where there had never been an epidemic prior to this. Thus he called it the “virgin soil epidemic” which is characterized by a population being defenseless due to their low immunity. Shortly after the Europeans arrived in this region, the Native Americans began to die in large numbers. This was due to the introduction on new diseases that came with the Europeans. Even though they also died, the Natives were more vulnerable to the diseases. Having no earlier disclosure to these diseases, they were tremendously susceptible. The fact that they were isolated from the other population escalated the problem as they immune system would not take on the diseases. The other reason that led to the massive infection was the fact that most of the diseases were highly contagious through air and touch which made it extremely easy for the Indians to be infected. Smallpox was the deadliest attack they had encountered even though other diseases such as influenza and measles took part in the deaths.
Social and cultural impact
After the exchange, many social aspects c...