Goodling
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Goodling
EFFECTS OF EUROPEAN DISEASES ON THE INHABITANTS OF THE
NEW WORLD
STACY GOODLING
History 392.02
The greatest adversary to the natives in the
Americas was not the swords or guns of the invaders. It
was the devastation brought by deadly diseases infecting
an unsuspecting population that had no immunity to such
diseases.
The Europeans were said to be thoroughly diseased by
the time Columbus set sail on his first voyage (Cowley,
1991). Through the domestication of such animals as
pigs, horses, sheep, and cattle, the Europeans exposed
themselves to a vast array of pathogens which continued
to be spread through wars, explorations, and city-building.
Thus any European who crossed the Atlantic was
immune to such diseases as measles and smallpox because
of battling them as a child.
The original inhabitants traveled to the New World
in groups of a couple hundred each. Because microbes
such as the ones that cause measles and smallpox need
populations of several million to survive, the original
populations were unaffected by the deadly diseases.
However, by the time Columbus arrived, the major Indian
groups of Aztecs, Incas, and Mayas had built their
populations up enough to sustain mass epidemics.
Evidence shows that these populations suffered from such
diseases as syphilis, tuberculosis, a few intestinal
parasites, and some types of flu, but not the diseases
that had been infecting the Old World for centuries.
Thus when the Europeans arrived bringing diseases such as
smallpox, measles, whooping cough, etc. the natives were
immunologically defenseless (Cowley, 1991).
It is believed that 40 million to 50 million people
inhabited the New World before the arrival of Columbus
and the Europeans, and that most of them died within a
few decades. For example, Mexico's population fell from
about 30 million in 1519 to 3 million in 1588. The other
South and Central American countries as well as the
Caribbean islands suffered the same devastation (Cowley,
1991). Mass epidemics were virtually unknown in the New
World prior to the invasion of the Europeans. Aside from
their lack of immunity to the pathogens, another factor
in the rapid spread of the diseases could have been the
weariness of the Indian populations. Due to their recent
conquest and oppression by the Spaniards, the Indians
were probably too tired to fight the infections.
One thing that must be noted is that contrary to
popular belief, infectious agents such as viruses,
bacteria, parasites, etc. are not designed to cause harm.
Rather they survive better when they don't destroy their
hosts. The greatest harm occurs when a germ infects a
previously unexposed population. It often causes massive
epidemics of which only the most resilient individuals
survive. As natural selection weeds out the most
susceptible hosts and the survivors repopulate, what was
once a deadly disease becomes a routine childhood
illness.
The first major disease to find the New World was
probably smallpox which broke out on Hispanola in 1518.
As the Spaniards moved toward the mainland from the
islands their diseases often proceeded them. One reason
for this was a messenger bearing the news of the invasion
to his people could carry the diseases as well as his
message. With the arrival of Cortes in 1520 the
smallpox virus was brought to Mexico and the Aztec
nation. It has been thought that if the virus had not
come when it did the Spanish invasion would not have been
successful (Lunenfeld, 314). The Aztec leader of the
assault against the Spanish invasion, as well as many of
his followers, died after ordering the Spaniards out of
Tenochtitlan. If the people would have continued with
what they had started, they would not have been conquered
for before August 21, 1521, the Spaniards were almost
defeated. However in a siege that lasted seventy-five
days the dead Aztecs from combat, starvation, and disease
numbered into the 1000's (Crosby, 1972). The massive
numbers of dead stunned the people so much that they were
unable to react. The natives were not the only ones
affected by the dead, however, for the invaders were also
affected. One Spaniard, Bernal Diaz, wrote, "I solemnly
swear that all the houses and stockades in the lake were
full of heads and corpses. It was the same in the
streets and courts. . . We could not walk without
treading on the bodies and heads of dead Indians. . .
Indeed, the stench was so bad that no one could endure."
(Crowley, 1991) The smell even caused Cortes to become
ill.
The smallpox epidemic was not just confined to the
Aztecs, however. By 1525 or 1526 the virus had reached
the Incan Empire. The death of the Incan ruler as well
as most of his family including his heir, caused the fall
of the Incan political structure and divided the people.
When Pizarro arrived he met with little or no resistance
and easily conquered the Incas. One of Pizarro's
soldiers said, "Had the land not been divided, we would
not have been able to enter or win." (Crowley, 1991)
Smallpox among other illnesses left the populations
too weak to harvest food or even feed their young. As a
result some populations dies out almost immediately,
while others continued to hang on for 100-150 years after
surviving harsh epidemics.
Both the Indians and the Spaniards felt that the
epidemics were a divine punishment from God. The
majority of the Indians, while some accepted the
Christian God of the Spaniards, believed in gods that
were often angry with humans. The Spaniards saw
pestilence as a punishment of God, a belief that was
rooted in the Old Testament. Another reason the Indians
agreed with the assumption of the Spaniards was that they
had no prior experience with such epidemics before and
therefore acquired no immunity to them as the Spaniards
had and they were extremely frightened of the diseases.
Their experiences caused unavoidable changes in the
lives of the natives. When persuaded that their
ancestral gods abandoned them, the Indians were more
easily convinced to accept Christianity. The Spaniards
immunity to smallpox and the Indians extreme
susceptibility to is caused the Indians to believe that
the Spaniards had a shield of the gods themselves. The
Indian nations were also divided . Their political
structures were damaged with the death of leaders and the
process by which they were replaced hampered. For
example, in the Aztec nation, when Moctezuma died his
nephew Cuitlahuac took over until he died of smallpox
during the siege (Crowley, 1972).
In addition to the diseases brought to the New World
from the Old, the New World also provided the Old World
with at least one new disease as well. The disease was
syphilis. Records show that syphilis in Columbus' time
was very similar to leprosy (Lunenfeld, 315). No records
of this disease were found before Columbus returned from
his voyage. It is very unlikely that a disease so
virulent, if it had existed, would never have been
mentioned.
The epidemics not only destroyed the native
populations, but they also effected other people groups.
One such group was the Africans. With the decline of an
available work force among the natives, the Spaniards
resorted to importing African slaves because they didn't
want to do the work themselves. The Africans had the
same immunities as the Europeans and thus made better
slaves than the natives.
Columbus may have initiated the first major change
in the world's epidemiological landscape. However human
activity is still changing and thus creating prime
environments for new disease causing agents. A case in
point is the HIV virus which causes AIDS. AIDS threatens
to destroy entire nations. While no one knows where AIDS
came from, it is thought to be like syphilis in that it
was haunting isolated populations before becoming global.
And just as syphilis was carried globally by ships; jet
planes and world-wide social changes have brought AIDS
out of isolation. Like smallpox and other infectious
diseases in the 16th century and AIDS in the 20th
century, what new disease will hit and destroy
unsuspecting populations?
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Cowley, Geoffrey. "The Great Disease Migration."
Newsweek (Special Issue, Fall/Winter 1991) pp. 54-56
Crosby, Alfred W. Jr. The Columbian Exchange: Biological
and Cultural Consequences of 1492, Westport: Greenwood
Press, 1972
Assignment: Write a short review of this paper for class on Friday.