How many Native Americans did European diseases kill?

How many Native Americans did European diseases kill?

When the Europeans arrived, carrying germs which thrived in dense, semi-urban populations, the indigenous people of the Americas were effectively doomed. They had never experienced smallpox, measles or flu before, and the viruses tore through the continent, killing an estimated 90\% of Native Americans.

How many native Indians died from smallpox?

In his seminal work, The Coming of the Spirit of Pestilence, historian Robert Boyd estimates that the 1770s smallpox epidemic killed more than 11,000 Western Washington Indians, reducing the population from about 37,000 to 26,000.

How did Native Americans react to the diseases?

The Native Americans had to respond to massive population loss within their own families and tribal groups. One of the most commonly cited responses to the smallpox epidemic is suicide, which also acted as another factor that increased the overall smallpox mortality rate (through associated deaths).

How did European diseases and epidemics affect Native American life?

European diseases and epidemics, while still present among Native American populations today, were especially influential in Native American life of the past. Diseases and epidemics can be chronicled from centuries ago when European settlers brought forth diseases that devastated entire tribes.

What was the leading cause of death in the 18th century?

Deaths Caused by Diseases Among the Native Americans in the 18th Century. European explorers to the Americas between the 15th and 19th centuries brought several diseases with them that proved deadly to the native population. Diseases such as smallpox, influenza and measles killed approximately 90 percent of the Native American population.

What diseases did the Europeans bring to the New World?

Overview. The catastrophic epidemics that accompanied the European conquest of the New World decimated the indigenous population of the Americas. Influenza, smallpox, measles, and typhus fever were among the first European diseases imported to the Americas. During the first hundred years of contact with Europeans,…

What ended the era of limited infectious disease in America?

The American era of limited infectious disease ended with the arrival of Europeans in the Americas and the Columbian exchange of microorganisms, including those that cause human diseases. Eurasian infections and epidemics had major effects on Native American life in the colonial period and nineteenth century, especially.