Epidemics and diseases
At a glance:
- Series: American Indians Ready Reference
- Categories: Medicine, Health, Disasters
- Subcategories: Native Americans, American Indians, Epidemics, Diseases
- Curriculum: American Indian History
- Geographical Location: North America
- Date: Colonial times-present
Article abstract: Within decades after contact with Europeans, Native American societies experienced rapid population declines; although the reasons for the demographic collapse of native North America are complex, a prominent factor in that decline was Old World infectious diseases, introduced by European explorers and settlers.
After the arrival of Europeans, the estimated aboriginal population of native North America began to decline. The Spanish intrusion into the Southwest and Southeast (c. 1520) launched a series of lethal epidemics that infected various...
[The entire page is 1377 words long]
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