How did smallpox affect the Inca Empire?
Likewise, smallpox claimed the life of an Inca emperor and wiped out much of the Inca population in western South America. In Europe, smallpox is estimated to have claimed 60 million lives in the 18th century alone. In the 20th century, it killed some 300 million people globally. The human fight against smallpox dates back some 2,000 years.
How many people died from smallpox?
Smallpox killed some 300 million people worldwide in the 20th century before it was eradicated in 1977. Today the biggest threat from... The disease, now eradicated, was once one of the world's deadliest. Smallpox ranks among the most devastating illnesses ever suffered by humankind.
What diseases did the Spanish use to kill the Incas?
Diseases and Illnesses. Therefore, the Spaniards used biological weapons more than military conquest when waging war on other empires which caused the estimated amount of 95 percent of the population of Native Americans through North and South America to die an unpleasant death. Around 50 percent of Incas died from the smallpox disease.
Did the Aztecs get smallpox?
Of course, the Aztecs were not the only indigenous people to suffer from the introduction of European diseases. In addition to North America’s Native American populations, the Mayan and Incan civilizations were also nearly wiped out by smallpox.
What percentage of the Inca population died from smallpox?
Within a few years smallpox claimed between 60% and 90% of the Inca population, with other waves of European disease weakening them further.
How many Aztecs and Incas died from smallpox?
When Europeans arrived in North America, they brought pathogens that natives were not immune to. Smallpox wiped out 5-8 million Aztecs shortly after the Spanish arrived in Mexico in 1519. But a different disease entirely is now suspected to have killed 15 million Aztecs, ending their society.
Did smallpox affect the Incas?
Disease can drive human history In addition to North America's Native American populations, the Mayan and Incan civilizations were also nearly wiped out by smallpox.
What percentage of Aztecs died from smallpox?
Within five years as many as 15 million people – an estimated 80% of the population – were wiped out in an epidemic the locals named “cocoliztli”. The word means pestilence in the Aztec Nahuatl language. Its cause, however, has been questioned for nearly 500 years.
Did any Aztecs survive smallpox?
When Cortés and his army began their campaign against the Aztecs in 1519, over 30 million people were living in Mexico. One hundred years later, after a series of smallpox epidemics had decimated the local population, it is estimated only around 1.5-3 million natives had survived.
How many Incas died to disease?
It is estimated that as many as 250,000 Incas died from smallpox. Because this disease was not found in South America until the Europeans brought it there, the Incas had no natural immunity to it and to other European diseases.
Who brought smallpox to Inca?
Earlier, the successful conquest of Mexican Aztec and Peruvian Inca empires by a handful of Spanish conquistadors led by Hernando Cortes and Francisco Pizarro, respectively, resulted in large part from epidemics of smallpox and measles virus infection that decimated the native defenders.
What was the death rate of smallpox?
Two forms of the disease are recognized, variola minor with a mortality rate of approximately 1%, and the more common variola major with a mortality rate of 30%.
How many deaths did smallpox cause?
One of history's deadliest diseases, smallpox is estimated to have killed more than 300 million people since 1900 alone. But a massive global vaccination campaign put an end to the disease in 1977—making it the first disease ever eradicated.
What was the highest percentage of natives that died as a result of smallpox?
They had never experienced smallpox, measles or flu before, and the viruses tore through the continent, killing an estimated 90% of Native Americans. Smallpox is believed to have arrived in the Americas in 1520 on a Spanish ship sailing from Cuba, carried by an infected African slave.
What disease killed most of the Aztecs?
The most devastating epidemics – called cocoliztli – have been blamed variously on measles, smallpox and typhus. Recent analysis of DNA from the teeth of people buried during a cocoliztli suggests that Salmonella enterica may have been partly to blame.
Why did the Spanish not get smallpox?
During the colonial period, there were major epidemic outbreaks which led to the implementation of sanitary and preventive policy. The introduction of smallpox vaccination in New Spain by Francisco Javier de Balmis and the work of Ignacio Bartolache reduced the mortality and morbidity of the disease.
Did smallpox affect the Aztecs?
Smallpox was an unknown disease not only in Mexico, but in all the Americas, before the arrival of Europeans. It was introduced to Mexican lands by the Spanish and played a significant role in the downfall of the Aztec Empire.
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 the smallpox affect the Aztecs?
Smallpox spread among the indigenous people and crippled their ability to resist the Spanish. The disease devastated the Aztec people, greatly reducing their population and killing an estimated half of Tenochtitlán's inhabitants. One of those who died was the Aztec emperor Cuitláhuac.
What percentage of Native Americans died after contracting smallpox?
They had never experienced smallpox, measles or flu before, and the viruses tore through the continent, killing an estimated 90% of Native Americans. Smallpox is believed to have arrived in the Americas in 1520 on a Spanish ship sailing from Cuba, carried by an infected African slave.
What is smallpox caused by?
Smallpox is an acute contagious disease caused by the variola virus. It gets its name from the Latin word for "spotted," referring to the raised, pustular bumps that break out over the face and body of those affected. Historically the virus killed around 30 percent of people who caught it.
What is the technique of blowing smallpox scabs up your nose?
In Asia, a technique known as variolation involved deliberately infecting a person by blowing dried smallpox scabs up their nose. Those who received this treatment contracted a mild form of the disease, developing a lifelong immunity.
How many people died from smallpox in the 20th century?
Smallpox killed some 300 million people worldwide in the 20th century before it was eradicated in 1977. Today the biggest threat from smallpox comes from its possible use as a bioterrorism agent.</p>.
What did Plessy v. Ferguson do?
Plessy v. Ferguson aimed to end segregation—but codified it instead
What did Edward Jenner discover?
Jenner's discovery paved the way for later vaccination programs —especially crucial since there is no effective treatment for smallpox.
Where did smallpox originate?
Smallpox is thought to have originated in India or Egypt at least 3,000 years ago. The earliest evidence for the disease comes from the Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses V, who died in 1157 B.C. His mummified remains show telltale pockmarks on his skin.
Which disease is the most deadly?
Variola major was the most common form–and most lethal. Variola minor produced a milder disease, which was fatal in less than one percent of cases. Two other, rarer forms also existed: hemorrhagic and malignant. Both invariably resulted in death.
How did smallpox affect Native Americans?
During the 1770s, smallpox killed at least 30% of the Northwestern Native Americans, killing tens of thousands. The smallpox epidemic of 1780–1782 brought devastation and drastic depopulation among the Plains Indians. This epidemic is a classic instance of European immunity and non-European vulnerability. It is probable that the Indians contracted the disease from the ‘Snake Indians’ on the Mississippi. From there it spread eastward and northward to the Saskatchewan River. According to David Thompson’s account, the first to hear of the disease were fur traders from the Hudson’s House on October 15, 1781. A week later, reports were made to William Walker and William Tomison, who were in charge of the Hudson and Cumberland Hudson’s Bay Company posts. By February, the disease spread as far as the Basquia Tribe. Smallpox attacked whole tribes and left few survivors. E. E. Rich described the epidemic by saying that “Families lay unburied in their tents while the few survivors fled, to spread the disease.” After reading Tomison’s journals, Houston and Houston calculated that, of the Indians who traded at the Hudson and Cumberland houses, 95% died of smallpox. Paul Hackett adds to the mortality numbers suggesting that perhaps up to one half to three quarters of the Ojibway situated west of the Grand Portage died from the disease. The Cree also suffered a casualty rate of approximately 75% with similar effects found in the Lowland Cree. By 1785 the Sioux Indians of the great plains had also been affected. Not only did smallpox devastate the Indian population, it did so in an unforgiving way. William Walker described the epidemic stating that “the Indians [are] all Dying by this Distemper … lying Dead about the Barren Ground like a rotten sheep, their Tents left standing & the Wild beast Devouring them.”
Why was smallpox important to Europe?
The establishment of the disease in Europe was of special importance, for this served as the endemic reservoir from which smallpox spread to other parts of the world, as an accompaniment of successive waves of European exploration and colonization.
How did smallpox come to Australia?
Smallpox was externally brought to Australia. The first recorded outbreak, in April 1789, about 16 months after the arrival of the First Fleet, devastated the Aboriginal population. Governor Phillip said that about half of the people living around Sydney Cove died during the outbreak, while later estimates have been higher. There is an ongoing debate as part of the "History wars" concerning two main rival theories about how the disease first entered the continent. (Another hypothesis suggested that the French brought it in 1788, but the timeline does not fit.) The central hypotheses of these theories suggest that smallpox was transmitted to Indigenous Australians by either: 1 the First Fleet of British settlers to arrive in the Colony of New South Wales, who arrived in January 1788 (whether deliberately or accidentally); or 2 Makassan mariners visiting northern Australia.
How many people died from smallpox in the 20th century?
During the 20th century, it is estimated that smallpox was responsible for 300–500 million deaths. In the early 1950s an estimated 50 million cases of smallpox occurred in the world each year. As recently as 1967, the World Health Organization estimated that 15 million people contracted the disease and that two million died in that year. After successful vaccination campaigns throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, the WHO certified the global eradication of smallpox in December 1979. Smallpox is one of two infectious diseases to have been eradicated, the other being rinderpest, which was declared eradicated in 2011.
Where did variolation originate?
The practice of variolation (also known as inoculation) first came out of East Asia. First writings documenting variolation in China appear around 1500. Scabs from smallpox victims who had the disease in its mild form would be selected, and the powder was kept close to body temperature by means of keeping it close to the chest, killing the majority of the virus and resulting in a more mild case of smallpox. Scabs were generally used when a month old, but could be used more quickly in hot weather (15–20 days), and slower in winter (50 days). The process was carried out by taking eight smallpox scabs and crushing them in a mortar with two grains of Uvularia grandiflora in a mortar. The powder was administered nasally through a silver tube that was curved at its point, through the right nostril for boys and the left nostril for girls. A week after the procedure, those variolated would start to produce symptoms of smallpox, and recovery was guaranteed. In India, where the European colonizers came across variolation in the 17th century, a large, sharp needle was dipped into the pus collected from mature smallpox sores. Several punctures with this needle were made either below the deltoid muscle or in the forehead, and then were covered with a paste made from boiled rice. Variolation spread farther from India to other countries in south west Asia, and then to the Balkans.
How did smallpox spread?
The enslavement of Africans continued to spread smallpox to the entire continent, with raiders pushing farther inland along caravan routes in search of people to enslave. The effects of smallpox could be seen along caravan routes, and those who were not affected along the routes were still likely to become infected either waiting to be put onboard or on board ships.
What was the name of the disease that killed millions of natives in Mexico?
Mexico, Central America, South America. Smallpox kills millions of native inhabitants of Mexico. Unintentionally introduced at Veracruz with the arrival of Panfilo de Narvaez on April 23, 1520 and was credited with the victory of Cortes over the Aztec empire at Tenochtitlan (present-day Mexico City) in 1521.
What is smallpox caused by?
Smallpox is a disease that is caused by the variola virus. It is an infectious (also known as ‘communicable’) disease meaning it can spread from one person or animal to another, either directly or indirectly. The variola virus, however, infects only humans (meaning animals are unable to catch smallpox).
What is the cause of death in the past?
Smallpox, an infectious disease caused by the variola virus was a major cause of mortality in the past, with historic records of outbreaks across the world. Its historic death tolls were so large that it is often likened to the Black Plague.
How many people died from smallpox in the 20th century?
In his review paper ‘The eradication of smallpox – An overview of the past, present, and future’ Donald Henderson reports that during the 20th century alone “an estimated 300 million people died of the disease.” 15
How much did smallpox cost the world in the 1960s?
36. Overall, the Center for Global Development 37 estimated that direct and indirect costs of smallpox cost the world approximately $1.35 billion in the late 1960s.
How much did the eradication program cost?
Nonetheless, the Intensified Smallpox Eradication Program has been estimated to have cost $300 million in total from 1967 to 1977 33 with one-third of the funding provided by international donors and the remaining two-thirds financed by endemic country governments. 34
Where did the name Variola come from?
Variola virus. The origin of the naming of smallpox and the variola virus. The name of smallpox originates from a common confusion with syphilis in 15th century France. The diseases shared similar symptoms (rashes) even though syphilis was caused by spirochaete bacteria and smallpox by the variola virus.
When did smallpox start to disappear?
Europe, North America and Australia managed to eliminate smallpox relatively early, most by the 1940s (predating the WHO’s Intensified Smallpox Eradication Program, which was launched in 1966). Countries across Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and Asia eliminated smallpox several decades later in the 1960s and 70s.
What brought smallpox to Japan?
6 th Century—Increased trade with China and Korea brings smallpox to Japan.
How to control smallpox?
One of the first methods for controlling smallpox was variolation, a process named after the virus that causes smallpox (variola virus). During variolation, people who had never had smallpox were exposed to material from smallpox sores (pustules) by scratching the material into their arm or inhaling it through the nose. After variolation, people usually developed the symptoms associated with smallpox, such as fever and a rash. However, fewer people died from variolation than if they had acquired smallpox naturally.
How did smallpox spread?
Historians trace the global spread of smallpox to the growth of civilizations and exploration. Expanding trade routes over the centuries also led to the spread of the disease.
How many people died from smallpox?
Smallpox was a terrible disease. On average, 3 out of every 10 people who got it died. People who survived usually had scars, which were sometimes severe. One of the first methods for controlling smallpox was variolation, a process named after the virus that causes smallpox (variola virus).
When did Maalin die?
Maalin was isolated and made a full recovery. Maalin died of malaria on July 22, 2013, while working in the polio eradication campaign. Janet Parker was the last person to die of smallpox.
Where was Maalin from?
Maalin was a hospital cook in Merca, Somalia. On October 12, 1977, he rode with two smallpox patients in a vehicle from the hospital to the local smallpox office. On October 22, he developed a fever. At first healthcare workers diagnosed him with malaria, and then chickenpox.
When did smallpox end?
The Program made steady progress toward ridding the world of this disease, and by 1971 smallpox was eradicated from South America, followed by Asia (1975), and finally Africa (1977).
What diseases did the Aztecs get?
And other European diseases, such as measles and mumps, also took substantial tolls – altogether reducing some indigenous populations in the new world by 90 percent or more. Recent investigations have suggested that other infectious agents, such as Salmonella – known for causing contemporary outbreaks among pet owners – may have caused additional epidemics.
What was the Aztec civilization?
This region was home to the Aztec civilization, an empire of an estimated 16 million people at this time. Through a system of conquest and tribute, the Aztecs had established the great island city of Tenochtitlan in Lake Texcoco that ruled over an area of about 80,000 square miles. A 17th-century copper plate of Tenochtitlan.
How did Smallpox affect the Aztecs?
First, it killed many of its victims outright, particularly infants and young children. Many other adults were incapacitated by the disease – because they were either sick themselves, caring for sick relatives and neighbors, or simply lost the will to resist the Spaniards as they saw disease ravage those around them. Finally, people could no longer tend to their crops, leading to widespread famine, further weakening the immune systems of survivors of the epidemic.
Why were the Aztecs vulnerable to smallpox?
The native people of the Americas, including the Aztecs, were especially vulnerable to smallpox because they’d never been exposed to the virus and thus possessed no natural immunity.
Where did smallpox come from?
Smallpox existed in ancient times in Egyptian, Indian and Chinese cultures. It remained endemic in human populations for millennia, coming to Europe during the 11th century’s Crusades.
When was the last case of a syphilis?
Happily, worldwide vaccination efforts have been successful, and the last naturally occurring case of the disease was diagnosed in 1977. The final case occurred in 1978, when a photographer died of the disease, prompting the scientist whose research she was covering to take his own life.
Who took Montezuma prisoner?
Photo By Jan Karel Donatus Van Beecq. Discovering widespread resentment toward the capital city and its ruler, Cortés formed alliances with many locals. Though vastly outnumbered, he and a small force marched on Tenochtitlan, where Montezuma received them with honor. In turn, Cortés took Montezuma prisoner.
What diseases did the Aztecs get?
And other European diseases, such as measles and mumps, also took substantial tolls – altogether reducing some indigenous populations in the new world by 90 percent or more. Recent investigations have suggested that other infectious agents, such as Salmonella – known for causing contemporary outbreaks among pet owners – may have caused additional epidemics.
What was the Aztec civilization?
This region was home to the Aztec civilization, an empire of an estimated 16 million people at this time. Through a system of conquest and tribute, the Aztecs had established the great island city of Tenochtitlan in Lake Texcoco that ruled over an area of about 80,000 square miles. A 17th-century copper plate of Tenochtitlan.
How did Smallpox affect the Aztecs?
First, it killed many of its victims outright, particularly infants and young children. Many other adults were incapacitated by the disease – because they were either sick themselves, caring for sick relatives and neighbors, or simply lost the will to resist the Spaniards as they saw disease ravage those around them. Finally, people could no longer tend to their crops, leading to widespread famine, further weakening the immune systems of survivors of the epidemic.
What causes smallpox to scab?
Smallpox is caused by an inhaled virus, which causes fever, vomiting and a rash, soon covering the body with fluid-filled blisters. These turn into scabs which leave scars. Fatal in approximately one-third of cases, another third of those afflicted with the disease typically develop blindness.
Why were the Aztecs vulnerable to smallpox?
The native people of the Americas, including the Aztecs, were especially vulnerable to smallpox because they’d never been exposed to the virus and thus possessed no natural immunity.
When was the last case of a syphilis?
Happily, worldwide vaccination efforts have been successful, and the last naturally occurring case of the disease was diagnosed in 1977. The final case occurred in 1978, when a photographer died of the disease, prompting the scientist whose research she was covering to take his own life.
Does Richard Gunderman work for a company?
Richard Gunderman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
What disease did the Incas die from?
Around 50 percent of Incas died from the smallpox disease. After smallpox the flu, typhus and several more illnesses had appeared which threatened the Inca empire constantly until the Spanish took over.
Why did the Incas get sick?
Even in the beginning, the Incas had already started to fall. As the Spaniards stayed closer and longer near the empire, many of the Incas fell sick with the disease of smallpox. The reason why this disease only spread after their arrival was because diseases are normally carried by herd domestic animals such as sheep and pigs. Although llamas are also of this category there were not massive herds of them living in the empire. People of Eurasia were normally the ones to get the diseases since they were always near sheep and pigs and were exposed to the diseases. As time went by they developed an immune system for the animals but still carried the disease to other places. Ever since the disease had been exposed many had died including the Sapa Inca who was in rule in that period of time. This had caused great devastation and depression among the people which resulted into the Incas psychological health being threatened. The priests had started to bring out prayers and such with the idea of healing the Incas but to no avail.
Why did the Incas get smallpox?
The reason why this disease only spread after their arrival was because diseases are normally carried by herd domestic animals such as sheep and pigs.
Did the Spaniards use biological weapons?
Therefore, the Spaniards used biological weapons more than military conquest when waging war on other empires which caused the estimated amount of 95 percent of the population of Native Americans through North and South America to die an unpleasant death .
Did llamas live in the empire?
Although llamas are also of this category there were not massive herds of them living in the empire. People of Eurasia were normally the ones to get the diseases since they were always near sheep and pigs and were exposed to the diseases.
Overview
Eurasian epidemics
It has been suggested that smallpox was a major component of the Plague of Athens that occurred in 430 BCE, during the Peloponnesian Wars, and was described by Thucydides.
Galen's description of the Antonine Plague, which swept through the Roman Empire in 165–180 CE, indicates that it was probably caused by smallpox. Returning soldiers picked up the disease in Seleucia (in modern Iraq), and brought it home with them to Syria and Italy. It raged for fifteen ye…
African epidemics
Smallpox is exogenous to Africa. One of the oldest records of what may have been an encounter with smallpox in Africa is associated with the elephant war circa AD 568 CE, when after fighting a siege in Mecca, Ethiopian troops contracted the disease which they carried with them back to Africa.
Arab ports in Coastal towns in Africa likely contributed to the importation of s…
Epidemics in the Americas
After first contacts with Europeans and Africans, some believe that the death of 90–95% of the native population of the New World was caused by Old World diseases. It is suspected that smallpox was the chief culprit and responsible for killing nearly all of the native inhabitants of the Americas. For more than 200 years, this disease affected all new world populations, mostly without intentional European transmission, from contact in the early 16th century until possibly …
Pacific epidemics
There is evidence that smallpox reached the Philippine islands from the 4th century onwards – linked possibly to contact between South East Asians and Indian traders.
During the 18th century, there were many major outbreaks of smallpox, driven possibly by increasing contact with European colonists and traders. There were epidemics, for instance, in the Sultanate of Banjar (South Kalimantan), in 1734, 1750–51, 1764–65 and 1778–79; in the Sultanat…
Eradication
Early in history, it was observed that those who had contracted smallpox once were never struck by the disease again. Thought to have been discovered by accident, it became known that those who contracted smallpox through a break in the skin in which smallpox matter was inserted received a less severe reaction than those who contracted it naturally. This realization led to the prac…
Historical relationship to related viruses
Taterapox (which infects rodents) and camelpox are the closest relatives to smallpox, and share the same common ancestor with smallpox about 4,000 years ago. It is not clear exactly when during this period Variola first infected humans. Cowpox, horsepox, and monkeypox are more distantly related. All of these viruses share a common ancestor about 10,000 years ago. All of these viruses belong to the genus Orthopoxvirus.
Further reading
• Clendening, Logan (1960). "Chapter XXVII. Smallpox". Source Book of Medical History. Dover. pp. 291–305. ISBN 9780486206219; reprint of 1942 book.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
• Otto, Simon; Cappel, Constance (2007). The smallpox genocide of the Odawa tribe at L'Arbre Croche, 1763: the history of a Native American people. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press. ISBN 978-0-7734-5220-6.