Was the Native American population already decimated before settlers and conquistadors arrived in America?
Upvote:11
Let's address the easy issue first. At the time of the Colombian Exchange, the Germ Theory of disease was still about 300 years in the future (and its acceptance more than 400). An educated European of the age most likely would have attributed the natives' susceptibility to Smallpox to their own living conditions, because that's how the prevailing miasma theory worked.
As for the order, it depends a lot on the Conquistador/Explorer/Settlers in question.
For example, Cortes landed in Mexico quite early, and I've been unable to find any reports of disease predating him (doesn't mean it didn't happen, just that I haven't found it). There were however multiple documented plagues that hit the Aztecs after that. There was a smallpox epidemic that swept through their capital right after Cotes' forces were repulsed in 1520 (not so coincidentally, his next attack in 1521 took the city). There was also a salmonella outbreak 20 years later that supposedly killed 80% of the country.
In 1519, when forces led by Spanish conquistador Hernando Cortés arrived in Mexico, the native population was estimated at about 25 million. A century later, after a Spanish victory and a series of epidemics, numbers had plunged to around 1 million.
Plymouth Colony, on the other hand, while quite early by English standards, happened a century later, and that ended up mattering. The settlement was undoubtedly helped a great deal by the fact that they were met by a native who knew English (due to being kidnapped by an English slaver in 1614), and had returned home to discover that in the meantime his entire tribe had been wiped out by a disease.
Thus the English colonists had access to someone who knew their language, the languages of (the surviving) nearby tribes, and how best to farm and hunt the land they had landed in, with nothing much better to do with himself than help them out. And that's of course not even bringing up the fact that the area had conveniently been depopulated of humans like his Patuxet tribe by that disease.
For reference, when Squanto finally did succumb to disease less than 2 years later, his grateful host, colony Governor William Bradford, referred to the cause as an "Indian fever". This seems to indicate that he understood that there were diseases that were killing the natives which the English colonists didn't appear susceptible to. However, it also seems that he was either unaware of, or unwilling to acknowledge, that his people actually were carrying those diseases.
More post
- 📝 No speed limit on German highways - why?
- 📝 Did Johann Tetzel really claim to be able to give indulgences even for the sin of violating the Mother of God?
- 📝 Is there any evidence that Cleopatra and Caesarion considered fleeing to India to escape the Romans?
- 📝 Did the Portuguese Crown sponsor Brazilian gold-seeking expeditions (bandeiras) in the 17th century?
- 📝 Have the Arabs ever conquered Kayseri?
- 📝 How much tax did Romans pay?
- 📝 Would a commissioned officer in the Royal Navy during the mid-late 18th century ever sail on a vessel other than a man-o-war, ship of the line, etc?
- 📝 Can anyone help identify the name of the white vessel in this photo w/the masts and funnel?
- 📝 Why was the Aeolipile not put to practical use in classical antiquity?
- 📝 Was every Roman citizen part of a curia?
- 📝 California land cases to the US Supreme Court
- 📝 How much do we know about Emperor Ashoka?
- 📝 How did the conquistadors imagine the "lake of gold" to be like?
- 📝 What does 'trade in' mean in this article on the Westway project?
- 📝 What evidence do we have that historical accounts we've found of ancient civilizations weren't fictional?
- 📝 Why was the Halifax death penalty reserved for thefts of at least 13½ pence?
- 📝 Was the wall of the Second Temple part of the fortification of Jerusalem?
- 📝 What is the first documented eating disorder?
- 📝 Was there contact between the Inca, Maya and Aztecs?
- 📝 Who were the nine founding railroad members of the Chicago union stock yard?
- 📝 Why in the 70s and 80s was the United Kingdom called Great Britain in the international naming conventions?
- 📝 Where and when did Nietzsche's sister meet Hitler?
- 📝 How did Nazi Germany produce such an impressive portfolio of officers for WW2?
- 📝 What did Flaminius bring to the Greeks?
- 📝 What is the historical evidence for asserting Huns were one and the same as Xiongnu?
- 📝 What are some examples that show medieval stone construction on top of older foundations?
- 📝 With what weapons were the towers of the Bastille armed?
- 📝 Was Pawiak prison in Warsaw originally for political or general prisoners?
- 📝 Why did towns became ghost towns after the mines dried up?
- 📝 Origin of "It won't be done by next Tuesday"
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Was the Native American population already decimated before settlers and conquistadors arrived in America?
- 📝 What was the ratio of French to English speakers in Upper Canada before and after the American Revolution?
- 📝 What was the difference in taxation amounts before and after the American Revolution?
- 📝 What was the population of late Pre-Islamic Arabia and the population of Arabic speakers before Islam?
- 📝 Was the concept of religious freedom in the early United States applied to native American faiths?
- 📝 Why was the US so pro-China and so anti-Japan before WW2?
- 📝 Before European influence circa 1600, did any Chinese believe the Earth was spherical, and did they ever try to measure it?
- 📝 How common was it for un-documented ships to bring settlers to the American colonies 1700-1750
- 📝 Was there any genuine debate in the pre-1860 United States regarding Native American sovereignty?
- 📝 Is it true that slavery was banned from discussion on the Senate and/or House floor before the American Civil War?
- 📝 How many acres per person were needed for the early American settlers vs. the native Americans?
- 📝 Did the US government officially apologize for Indian Removal Act and Native American Indian genocide?
- 📝 What was the first instance of native Americans using gunpowder weapons in battle and did they ever make their own powder?
- 📝 What was the currency in use in Palestine shortly before and during WWI?
- 📝 What was the estimated population of the Mississippi Valley before contact with Europeans?
- 📝 Was anyone a notable participant in both the American Revolution and the Latin American Wars of Independence (as a liberator)?
- 📝 Was there any distinction between the 13 Colonies and the Canadian provinces prior to the American Revolution?
- 📝 In American Civil War era paper cartridges, what was taking up the space between powder and bullet?
- 📝 What were the dominant Native American cultures in Eastern Canada and New England in the late 900s?
- 📝 What was the American policy on colonisation and why?
- 📝 What were the native North American concepts of property rights and market exchange?
- 📝 Why did the north and south struggle to control the territories before the American Civil War?
- 📝 What was the extent of Japanese control after the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs and before surrender?
- 📝 What was the natural population growth of Scotland between 1600 and 1900?
- 📝 What was the fate of the planters and their plantations following the American Civil War?
- 📝 Was there regular contact by the general population between the Spanish Netherlands and the Dutch Republic during the second half of the 17th Century?
- 📝 When was the term for WW2 first used and was it more popular in, say, US before Europe?
- 📝 Why was the German Jewish population declining so much that some statisticians predicted its disappearance even before the 3rd Reich?
- 📝 Was murdering a slave illegal in American slavery, and if so, what punishments were given for it?
- 📝 What was the religion of the Arabic people before conversion to Islam?