Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
Infectious Disease and the Demography of the Atlantic Peoples (Epidemics…
Infectious Disease and the Demography of the Atlantic Peoples
This article presents a new version of the histories of the Atlantic basin by focusing on demography (population) and epidemiology(the branch of medicine which deals with the incidence, distribution, and possible control of diseases and other factors relating to health), rather than on politics and war;
After 1492 - If the Amerindians were already so densely populated, how could the post-columbian migration have been as large, smooth and successful as it was? This phenomena cannot only be explained by the innovations of transportation technology, and is instead explained by other factors.
1492 - population densities of the New and Old World were quite similar. Old World (Eurasia and Africa) had the advantage of crops and livestock, whereas the New World (Amerindians) had the advantage of suffering from few infectious diseases
The original plan of the conquistadors was to establish a trade empire in the americas and to dominate the indigenes, making sure they are not equal with them but rather work force and laborers.
The taínos of great Antillas were wiped out by the micro and macro invaders simultaneously
After the epidemics hit the Americas, the conquistadors changed their plans as the severe declination in the population was caused by the avalanche of epidemics that were brought with the Europeans.
Epidemics produce labor shortages (often) → streghnethed the hand of the yeoman and his negotiations w/ the squire + encourges slavery to refil the ranks of laborers
The return of plague in the 14th century stimulated slave trade between southren europe and the black sea and also black africa.
By 1551 slaves made up 10% of the population in lisbon
Population expansion in Europe during the 15th and 16th century reduced the demand for slaves.
Even in the best of times, birth rates in Europe rarely exceeded death rates.
Hunger, war, or both; worse than either or both was disease, which is amplified by either one.
From the 14th to the early 18th centuries, plagues never ceased to hit Europe; they continued for another century in eastern Europe.
The plague killed 80% of those infected.
The agricultural revolution was significant to population growth, but not immediately.
Millions of Africans were taken as slaves to the Americas by the Europeans for work on plantations between the 16th and 19th centuries. Greatest oceanic migration preceding the 1900s.
Black population was suffering from a high mortality rate compared to birth, with factors such as overworking and disease to blame.
Africans were more resistant than the natives to some diseases such as malaria and the yellow fever, but the pathogens that their European masters brought with them were very infectious to them and resulted in a huge sum of death for the African population.
When Europeans arrived to the Americas, they found plenty of resources but not enough labour.
Europeans relied on enslaving the locals (in Spanish settlements: encomienda) and settling their people to work the land (hacienda).
Diseases, both from the Americas and brought with them from Europe, killed up to 90% of the Aztec and Incan population and most of the West Indies’ inhabitants.