Accounts of colonization don’t give nearly enough recognition to the force of smallpox in obliterating Native American populations. The cruelty and advanced technology of white settlers certainly played a role in crushing indigenous forces, but their impact is overstated in comparison to the disease. Not only were colonizers greatly outnumbered by indigenous populations, but their “advanced” technology was not a major factor when colonization began. Using one of their faster weapons, like a smoothbore flintlock, an experienced soldier “needed sixty seconds to load and fire,” while an American Indian “could let fly up to twenty well-aimed arrows” in the same time (Robertson, xi). A population of an estimated 40 million Native Americans vastly outnumbered the 102 aboard the Mayflower (Grandstaff). The Mayflower colony was not entirely immune to the smallpox virus, losing twenty of its members, but the disease completely obliterated Native American populations. Cases exploded upon the ship’s arrival, providing a perfect opportunity for settlers to claim American Indians’ land and enslave their people without a fight. As it spread rapidly through fur trade, smallpox destroyed Native networks, and Europeans swooped in on the caving market, increasing Natives’ reliance on the very people that brought the disease. In the same way, it’s hard to assert that the fall of the Aztec empire can be attributed to big, strong Spanish troops when they were vastly outnumbered. It is estimated that Hernán Cortés, the Spanish conquistador leading the invasion, had at most a thousand soldiers as he tried to conquer the city of Tenochtitlan, which had a population of about 200,000 in 1520 (Richard Gunderman). It is due to smallpox, not the power of European troops, that the population of Tenochtitlan crumpled by 40% that year alone (Richard Gunderman). The staggering difference in population and the capabilities of Indigenous warriors make it clear that the destruction of Indigenous societies was only so easy because they were enervated by the plague.

Smallpox, the virus that sealed the fate of countless indigenous people, is a lethal disease spread through respiratory droplets. The most common form of this disease was Variola major, but there are even deadlier forms including malignant and hemorrhagic smallpox. Until it was eradicated in 1980, smallpox was a dire diagnosis (World Health Organization). The sickness included a few days of debilitating fever, body aches, and sometimes vomiting, followed by rashes that typically originated on the face, including the mouth. These rashes developed into pustules with hardened lumps, covering the entire body. Oral sores full of viral particles would burst and transmit respiratory droplets to unknowing victims. Eventually, the rashes would scab over and begin to fall off, marking the end of infection for those who survived. Many colonizers had already fought smallpox as children with nourishment and care from their family, earning them lifelong immunity. Meanwhile, indigenous populations had never been exposed to the pathogen, and their immune systems were completely vulnerable upon the arrival of European ships. The difference in fatalities between Europeans and Indigenous Americans was stark: while the English had mortality rates “ranging around 30%, […] some Native American groups had mortality rates of upwards of 90%, 100%” (Welsh). The novel virus wiped out entire tribes, because although some survived the illness, all infected individuals were incapacitated, leaving nobody to care for the sick and allow them to rest and recover. Certainly nobody was fit to tend to the crops, and many lost their lives due simply to starvation. Without proper care and fuel, countless Indigenous people succumbed to infection because they were devoid of the energy to fight. 

It is natural to conclude that if the germs of the Old World were so taxing on Native American populations, the pathogens of the Americas should have strongly impacted European settlers as well. However, while they did have diseases, they didn’t have plagues. Their immune systems were not accustomed to the pathogens carried by European settlers, including tuberculosis, cholera, bubonic plague, influenza, and smallpox. These plagues weren’t like the ones circulating in the Americas; victims would be lucky to survive. Europeans had been living with these devastating diseases for a long time, with TB estimated to be killing humans for up to three million years (Barberis et al.). By the time they figured out that there were other continents to their west to exploit, populations had been acquiring immunity for generations. 

The reason that Europe had all of these plagues to begin with was because of their regular and close contact with animals carrying diseases, which had the rare chance of spilling over into humans. Smallpox in particular is believed to have originated 10,000 years ago from a rodent carrier, during the time of the Agricultural Revolution (Allmann Updyke). This jump from an animal carrier to humans is actually the key reason for its high virulence. It is not effective for a pathogen to be deadly to its host, because then the host will die. With no organism to support it, the pathogen will die, too, meaning it can’t spread and reproduce. As a result, pathogens typically evolve so as not to kill their hosts. However, the plagues circulating in Europe that originated in livestock were accustomed to animal immune systems and have completely different effects on human bodies. The discrepancy between Europe and the Americas when it comes to interactions with animals was simply due to the species present. The animals roaming the North American plains were not like peaceful pigs and chicken; they were bison and deer, which could not be so easily tamed due to their strength and agility. Additionally, though horses originated in North America, they had gone extinct on the continent and could not be used for agricultural purposes. These factors meant that the Americas didn’t have diseases with mortality rates like the ones prevalent in Europe. On top of their association with livestock, the dense cities of Europe created a breeding ground for disease, allowing a variety of plagues to spread and leaving survivors immune. 

The European’s decreased susceptibility to their plagues not only allowed them to conquer whilst indigenous populations crumbled, but also pressured many natives into submission. The first Indigenous tribes to interact with the European travelers were peaceful. They were captivated by the settlers’ advanced technology, which they viewed as gifts from the gods, earning the invaders a sense of admiration and respect they proved to not deserve. Once their intentions became clear through murder and slavery, amongst other things, many Native Americans suspected that these “godly” figures must be from hell (Robertson, 98). Unfortunately this change in perception did not exactly play in their favor. Cortés, looking to extract wealth from the prosperous Aztec empire, benefited greatly from the misconceptions of Indigenous populations. One of his slaves, gripped with disease, transmitted smallpox to the Aztec people, which spread like wildfire just in time for Cortés and his troops to swoop in and take hold of the weakened empire. Some survivors looked at the Europeans’ resistance to the plague that destroyed their entire population as a sign of the superiority of Christianity. Seeing the devastation brought on their community whilst their attackers appeared entirely impervious, many abandoned their traditional beliefs for that  of the conquering Catholics, conceding to their rule with much less objection than if not for the fatal plague. Smallpox didn’t just kill Indigenous peoples; it crushed their spirit. Believing that their attackers had a divine advantage, they were deprived of hope and conceded to their oppressors.

The final element of smallpox’s role in the downfall of American Indian society is highly debated over, and likely played a smaller part than many portray. Regardless of its impact, though, this aspect in the history of Native American colonization is one of the most malicious. In one of the first acts of bioterrorism, blankets contaminated with smallpox were intentionally given to American Indians under the guise of a gift. Observing the decimation caused by Variola major in the tribes unlucky enough to contract it, British General Amherst asked in 1763 about the possibility of spreading ”the Small Pox among those disaffected Tribes of Indians” in an effort to destroy American Indian populations (“Germ Warfare Documented in Letters | Investing in Native Communities”). In response, Colonel Bouquet wrote back agreeing to “inoculate the Indians by means of Blankets that may fall in their hands” (“Germ Warfare Documented in Letters | Investing in Native Communities”). Settlers trying to wield the power of a disease demonstrates their inhumanity and the role of smallpox in colonization.  However, chances are that this single event did not play a substantial role in history. Although it is likely that other attempts of bioterrorism occurred without documentation, chances are they only make up a drop in the ocean of smallpox cases. Although this act of biowarfare is documented and undeniably cruel, the reality is, European colonizers didn’t need it. Variola major spread quickly and ravaged populations regardless of its intentional transmission. 

Smallpox was colonization’s strongest weapon. While the brutality of European settlers played an undeniable role in destroying Indigenous lives and societies, the main factor in colonization was Variola major. Its high mortality and insistence on targeting Indigenous lives scourged native populations and filled them with despair, causing them to be overpowered by invaders despite having greater populations. The significance of the disease in weakening Indigenous forces is reflected by colonizers’ decision to purposely infect populations determined to defend their home. Understanding the importance of smallpox in the destruction of Native American society completely revolutionizes the frame in which it is viewed; had equally lethal diseases been circulating in the Americas, the fate of Indigenous Americans could be completely different.

I wrote this paper for my Ethnic Studies class, because I was fascinated by the connection between disease and its profound impact on history. I know it’s been a while since I’ve written an Education in Epidemiology post, so I thought it was overdue. The lack of an introductory paragraph might throw some people off, which is completely valid, but the unstructured nature of this assignment allowed me to experiment with a different style and I wanted to see how the essay would flow without an into paragraph, which I resent writing.

Although I knew that smallpox disproportionately affected Indigenous populations, I was stunned to discover the extent to its destruction. I never would have considered it “Colonization’s Strongest Weapon,” but after reading about the relative populations of Indigenous people vs their oppressors, it is clear that brute force alone was not responsible for colonization.

In all honesty, a large part of this essay was inspired by a YouTube video (which is listed below with all of the other works consulted). It primarily focused on how the diseases of the New World paled in comparison to the plagues of Europe, and it’s all presented in a very accessible and entertaining way, so I would certainly recommend! It reminded me that even less dignified sources, like YouTube videos, can be a good source of information and speed up the researching process by a significant amount. Of course, using a less reputable source means that I had to check its claims from credible sources. Notice how none of my quoted evidence actually came from the video.

Anyway! Hope you enjoyed this longer post after quite a few medium-length articles. Let me know what you thought and stay tuned to learn with me!

“American Horses ~ Horses in North America: A Comeback Story | Blog | Nature | PBS.” Nature, 25 Feb. 2022, http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/blog/american-horses-horses-in-north-america-a-comeback-story/.

Barberis, I, et al. “The History of Tuberculosis: From the First Historical Records to the Isolation of Koch’s Bacillus.” Journal of Preventive Medicine and Hygiene, vol. 58, no. 1, Mar. 2017, pp. E9–E12, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5432783/.

“Germ Warfare Documented in Letters | Investing in Native Communities.” Investing in Native Communities, 2024, nativephilanthropy.candid.org/events/germ-warfare-documented-in-letters/. Accessed 15 Oct. 2024.

Grandstaff, Jacob. “Native American Population Estimates When Columbus Arrived in 1492.” History How It Happened, 25 Nov. 2019, historyhowithappened.com/native-american-population-estimates-when-columbus-arrived-in-1492/.

Grey, CGP. “Americapox: The Missing Plague.” YouTube, 23 Nov. 2015, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEYh5WACqEk.

Richard Gunderman. “How Smallpox Devastated the Aztecs – and Helped Spain Conquer an American Civilization 500 Years Ago.” PBS NewsHour, 23 Feb. 2019, http://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/how-smallpox-devastated-the-aztecs-and-helped-spain-conquer-an-american-civilization-500-years-ago.

Robertson, R G. Rotting Face. Caxton Press, 2001.

Welsh, Erin, and Erin Allmann Updyke. “This Podcast Will Kill You: Gnarlypox.” This Podcast Will Kill You, February 2018. Exactly Right Network, http://thispodcastwillkillyou.com/2018/02/10/episode-3/.

World Health Organization. “Smallpox.” Www.who.int, World Health Organization, 2022, http://www.who.int/health-topics/smallpox#tab=tab_1.