CLEP US History I

Answer: D - The fact that European diseases arrived well before the majority of English settlers meant that the Native American population, particularly on the East Coast, was severely reduced when the English arrived. The Spanish explorers had been up and down the coast and spread small pox, a devastating virus, throughout North America. The presence of adventure English fisherman also furthered the spread of the disease. This substantially weakened the Native Americans prior to large-scale European colonization.