Final answer:
European colonization of the Americas would not have been possible without the assistance of disease-causing pathogens, which devastated Native American populations.
Step-by-step explanation:
European colonization of the Americas would not have been possible without the assistance of disease-causing pathogens. When Europeans arrived in the Western hemisphere, they brought with them bacteria and viruses that triggered epidemics and devastated Native American populations, who had no natural resistance to these diseases. It is estimated that up to 90 percent of Native Americans died from infectious diseases after the arrival of Europeans. The introduction of diseases like smallpox and measles had a far worse impact on the population of the Americas than the Black Death had on Asia and Europe.