Tribe meets white man for the first time

Ballyhoo said:
Pretty substantial numbers to me....

http://www.earlyamerica.com/review/2007_summer_fall/native-americans-smallpox.html

"This Native American depopulation occurred during the contact period, causing the Native American population size to decline from 1-18 million before European contact (c. AD 1500) to an estimated 530,000 by 1900."

http://www.planeta.com/ecotravel/mexico/yucatan/tales/0303yucatan.html

As a bit of background, Spanish invaders battled 19 years to conquer the Maya in the Yucatán Peninsula. Unlike the Aztecs in central Mexico who succumbed to Cortez in less than two years, the Mayans were not easily overtaken. But by 1700, a once robust Maya population had fallen to 150,000 due to disease, displacement and famine
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I can remember annoying my history teachers when stuff like that came up. :evil_lol:

Estimated statistics arn't really all that accurate for those periods. Especially considering that in those cases the Europeans were trying to wipe out those cultures. They didn't really want it to look vindictive (and from their point of view maybe they didn't see it that way back then) but the end result was that there was no 'accidental' disease or famine with half the contacts back then. There were actually attempts to spread disease and famine to get the natives out of the way (especially the ones that were difficult to conquer).
 
Voltaire on syphilis lol
"if Columbus in an island of America had not caught the disease, which poisons the source of generation, and often indeed prevents generation, we should not have chocolate and cochineal"
- Candide, Chapter 4


:nilly: lol
 
1) Candide is hardly a historical source.
2) Your quote concerns Columbus catching diseases from the local population, not the other way around.


Bish, you have misattributed a FF1 quote to me. I am severely offended.
 
Inka4040 said:
1) Candide is hardly a historical source.
2) Your quote concerns Columbus catching diseases from the local population, not the other way around.


Bish, you have misattributed a FF1 quote to me. I am severely offended.
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I never claimed that Candide was a historical source...was just amusing. Also if Columbus contracted diseases from the natives who's to say they didn't get any from him...
 
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