Influx of disease in the Caribbean
The first European contact in 1492 started an influx of
Infectious diseases
Before the
In 1493, the first recorded influenza epidemic to strike the Americas occurred on the island of Hispaniola in the northern Spanish settlement of Isabela.[8][9] The virus was introduced to the Isle of Santo Domingo by the Cristóbal Cólon, which docked at La Isabela on 10 December 1493, carrying about 2,000 Spanish passengers.[10] Despite the general poor health of the colony, Columbus returned in 1494 and found that the Native American population had been affected by disease even more catastrophically than Isabela's first settlers were. By 1506, only a third of the native population remained.[11] The Taíno population before European contact is estimated to have been between 60,000 and 8 million people, and the entire nation was virtually extinct 50 years after contact, which has primarily been attributed to the infectious diseases.[4]
After the first European contact, social disruption and epidemic diseases[12] led to a decline in the Amerindian population.[13] Because the Indigenous societies, including the Taínos, were unfamiliar with the diseases, they were not prepared to deal with the social consequences.[6] The high number of people incapacitated by the disease disrupted the normal cycles of agriculture and hunting that sustained the Native American populations.[6] This led to increased dependence on the Europeans, and reduced capacity to resist the European invasion.[6] The eventual enslavement of the Taíno people by the Europeans compounded the effects of the epidemics in the downfall of the Indigenous societies.[4]
Impact of the transatlantic slave trade
As the population of enslaved Indigenous peoples fell due to disease and abuse, the
See also
- Catholic Church and the Age of Discovery
- Columbian Exchange
- HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean
- Malaria and the Caribbean
- Native American disease and epidemics
- Seasoning (colonialism)
- Timeline of European imperialism
- Triangular trade
- Virgin soil epidemic
References
- ^ a b c d e f McNeill, J. R.; Sampaolo, Marco; Wallenfeldt, Jeff (September 30, 2019) [28 September 2019]. "Columbian Exchange". Encyclopædia Britannica. Edinburgh: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Archived from the original on April 21, 2020. Retrieved September 5, 2021.
- JSTOR 25703506.
- ISBN 9780307265722.
- ^ ISSN 0895-3309.
- ^ a b c d e "Smallpox Devastates Indigenous Populations." Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History. Edited by Thomas Riggs. Gale, Farmington, MI, USA, 2015, https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/galegue/smallpox_devastates_indigenous_populations/0
- ^ a b c d Schroeder, Michael. "Epidemics in the Americas, 1450–1750." World History: A Comprehensive Reference Set. Edited by Facts on File,. Facts On File, New York, NY, USA, 2016, https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/fofworld/epidemics_in_the_americas_1450_1750/0
- ^ Cook, Noble David (1998). Born to Die: Disease and New World Conquest, 1492-1650. Cambridge University Press. p. 26.
- ^ Kipu (in Spanish). Ediciones ABYA-YALA. 1986. p. 85.
- S2CID 46540669.
- ISSN 1134-6582. Retrieved April 6, 2020.
- ISBN 978-1-4205-0349-4.
- ]
- ^ Engerman, p. 486
- JSTOR 494748.
- ^ The Sugar Revolutions and Slavery, U.S. Library of Congress
- ^ a b c d Esposito, Elena (2015). Side effects of immunities : the African slave trade (Report). Retrieved December 5, 2019.
- ^ S2CID 7096696. Archived from the original(PDF) on February 27, 2020.
- PMID 11633589.
Bibliography
- Engerman, Stanley L. "A Population History of the Caribbean", pp. 483–528 in A Population History of North America Michael R. Haines and Richard Hall Steckel (Eds.), Cambridge University Press, 2000, ISBN 0-521-49666-7.