Consequences Of European Contact On Native Americans

Consequences of European Contact on Native Americans Native Americans experienced a drastic population decline upon European contact due to warfare, their enslavement, and societal disruption (Britannica). The leading cause of their decline was due to European-borne disease epidemics, most notably, the small pox virus. This population decline ended a long period of demographic stability (Fallon et. al.). Research is currently being performed to quantify the consequences of European contact with Native Americans. A study was just recently published November 17, 2016, in Nature that analyzed 50 exomes (genome formed only by exons) from ancient and modern Native Americans (Lindo et. al.). The researchers inferred an effective population size decline of 57% and dated a major population bottleneck occurring approximately 175 years ago, which coincides with documented small pox epidemics and large-scale population declines of the 19th century. The reported effective population size decline correlates with another study that estimated a 50% decline in female effective population size, but dated a major bottleneck at 500 years ago (Fallon et. al.) Comparison of ancient and modern Native American exomes also revealed signatures of positive-selection on genes related to immune function. The gene with the highest signature of positive selection was the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) gene, HLA-DQA1. Alleles that correlate with this gene were found to be almost completely fixed (nearShow MoreRelatedBiological and Cultural Consequences of European Contact with the Native Americans1985 Words   |  8 PagesThe consequences of European contact with the Native Americans had grave consequences surpassing the expectations of both sides. 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