THE ROLE OF DISEASE

IN COLONIZATION
BY IGNACIO MARTI AND VALERIA MORENO
IMPACT

• Disease had a massive impact on colonization

• It killed around 90% of Native Americans
• Because of this, colonizers overpowered the
Natives
• The Europeans brought it with them
• They had immunity, while the Natives had no
immunity or modern medicine to help them
COLUMBIAN
EXCHANGE
DEMOGRAPHIC AND
CULTURAL CONSEQUENCES
• Most Native Americans died because of illness
• The colonizers imposed their culture over them,
effectively getting rid of whole Native cultures and
religions
• The main victim of the diseases were the Natives
with no immunity, but the slaves with no immunity
also suffered a lot because of their living conditions.
SMALLPOX

• The deadliest disease the

Europeans brought

• Brought by African slaves in the

European ships

• Killed massive proportions of the

population

• Instrumental in the colonization of

Mexico and Peru

• Variolation, an immunization
method, only introduced in 1728
MALARIA

• Disease that comes from

mosquitos, from Africa and
later Europe
• Deadly if no immunity has been
developed
• Fatal, and needs quick
treatment or else very deadly
• Terrible slave conditions
allowed for epidemics
YELLOW FEVER

• It initially came to the Americas because of Dutch

Slavers
• The serious ilness symptoms will come 3-6 days after
being infected and beign afected with mild discomforts
like headaches, backaches, etc…
• Yellow fever has three possible types of transmission:
• Sylvatic or Jungle
• Intermediate or Savannah
• Urban
TRANSATLANTIC SLAVE TRADE

• Was an oceanic trade on African men,

women and children to be later
distributed on sugar plantations
• Its duration was from the mid-
sixteenth century until the 1860s
• It was initiated by the Spanish and
Portuguese
• The mayor profiters from the slave
trade were the Americans and
Europeans
CHARACTERISTICS &
MAIN PARTIES INVOLVED

• Nothern European powers joined in

on the Transatlantic trade.
• The demand for sugar on the mid-
seventeenth century kept the British
and French in power leaving the
Iberian nations out of the
transatlantic slave trade business
IT’S CONTRIBUTION TO THE SPREADING OF
DISEASE
• The slave trade contributed greatly
to the spreading of disease during
the colonization of America
• Because of the horrid traveling
conditions slaves contracted deadly
diseases along the way.
BIBLIOGRAPHY

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