ABSTRACT
The first Euro-Americans paid little attention to the impact of the smaller creatures they brought with them, but it may have been as great as that of the larger animals, even as great as that of the close-cropping sheep and goats. Most of the imported animals prospered for the purposes of Cortes, Pizarro, the horses, cattle and swine increased so fast that soon the backcountry of the Antilles swarmed with feral livestock. The masters of America's begins with healthy beasts selected from the avant-garde herds of the Antilles and invaders: pigs, cattle, horses, and pathogens. Loss of farmland to the invading humans and their flocks and its exploitation had taken the toll but most important is the beginning of a series of pestilential onslaughts. The conquistadores needs the Antilles for seasoning and propagation of their biological allies and its feats are considered as superhuman precisely because they were just the triumphs of teams that included more than humans.
