Smallpox and the Spanish Conquest: How Disease Toppled Empires
The article highlights the significant impact of smallpox during the Spanish conquest of the Americas, beginning with Columbus's arrival in 1492. In 1493, he transported 1,300 men to Hispaniola, where the initial smallpox outbreak occurred in 1507, severely impacting local tribes. By December 1518, the disease resurfaced, claiming one-third of the indigenous population and spreading to Cuba and Puerto Rico. With a fatality rate of 30%, smallpox ravaged the Aztec Empire following Cortés's arrival in 1519 and contributed to civil strife in the Inca Empire. The virus reached Brazil in 1555 but did not penetrate north of Mexico until the 17th century, resulting in a 90% decline in the Indigenous population. By the close of the 16th century, southern Mexico's inhabitants plummeted from 17 million to 1 million.
Key facts
- Christopher Columbus landed in 1492 on an unidentified island, possibly San Salvador.
- In 1493, Columbus brought 1,300 men to colonize Hispaniola.
- The first smallpox epidemic struck Hispaniola in 1507.
- In December 1518, smallpox killed one-third of the remaining native people on Hispaniola and spread to Cuba and Puerto Rico, killing half the indigenous populations there.
- Smallpox had a 30% fatality rate and could cause blindness and sterility in survivors.
- Cortés entered Tenochtitlan in 1519; an enslaved African named Francisco de Bagua brought smallpox in 1520.
- The Inca emperor Huayna Capac died of a mysterious illness, leading to a civil war between Huascar and Atahualpa; Pizarro executed Atahualpa in 1532.
- Up to 90% of the Indigenous population of the Americas died during and after the Conquest, largely due to smallpox.
Entities
Artists
- Christopher Columbus
- Francisco de Bagua
- Hernán Cortés
- Moctezuma II
- Cuitlahuac
- Fray Toriba Motolinia
- Huayna Capac
- Huascar
- Atahualpa
- Francisco Pizarro
- Manco Capac
- Queen Mary II
- Edward Jenner
- Johann Theodor de Bry
- Edouard Chapelle
- Eugène-Ernest Hillemacher
- Battiste Goode
- Pánfilo de Narváez
Institutions
- Rijksmuseum
- Wikimedia Commons
- Connecticut Explored
- National Library of Medicine
- Wellcome Collection
- JSTOR
- Network in Canadian History and Environment
- William and Mary College
- Hudson Bay Company
Locations
- San Salvador
- Guanahani
- Hispaniola
- Dominican Republic
- Haiti
- Cuba
- Puerto Rico
- Tenochtitlan
- Cozumel
- Tlaxcala
- Chalco
- Mexico
- Peru
- Bolivia
- Chile
- Ecuador
- Quito
- Vilcabamba
- Massachusetts
- Connecticut River
- St. Lawrence River
- Canada
- Arkansas
- Mississippi
- New Mexico
- California
- Alaska
- Brazil
- Rio de Janeiro
- England
- Amsterdam
- New Spain
- United States