Editing Influx of disease in the Caribbean

{{short description|Disease proliferation in the Caribbean due to European colonization and Atlantic triangle trade}}
{{use mdy dates|date=March 2019}}
{{Use American English|date=March 2019}}

The first European contact in 1492 started an influx of [[communicable diseases]] into the [[Caribbean]].<ref name="McNeill 2019">{{cite encyclopedia |last1=McNeill |first1=J. R. |author1-link=J. R. McNeill |last2=Sampaolo |first2=Marco |last3=Wallenfeldt |first3=Jeff |date=30 September 2019 |origyear=28 September 2019 |title=Columbian Exchange |url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Columbian-exchange |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |location=[[Edinburgh]] |publisher=[[Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200421055242/https://www.britannica.com/event/Columbian-exchange |archive-date=21 April 2020 |url-status=live |access-date=5 September 2021}}</ref> Diseases originating in the [[Old World]] ([[Afro-Eurasia]]) came to the [[New World]] (the [[Americas]]) for the first time, resulting in demographic and sociopolitical changes due to the [[Columbian Exchange]] from the late 15th century onwards.<ref name="McNeill 2019"/> The [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas]] had little immunity to the predominantly European diseases, resulting in significant loss of life and contributing to their enslavement and exploitation perpetrated by the [[European colonialism|European colonists]].<ref name="McNeill 2019"/> Waves of [[Atlantic slave trade|enslaved Africans]] were brought to replace the dwindling Indigenous populations, solidifying the position of disease in [[triangular trade]].<ref name = "Nunn and Qian">{{cite journal |last1= Nunn |first1= Nathan |last2= Qian |first2= Nancy |year= 2010 |title= The Columbian Exchange: A History of Disease, Food, and Ideas |journal= [[Journal of Economic Perspectives]] |volume= 24 |issue= 2 |pages= 163–188 |jstor= 25703506 |doi= 10.1257/jep.24.2.163 |citeseerx= 10.1.1.232.9242 }}</ref><ref name="Mann">{{cite book |last1=Mann |first1=Charles C. |title=1493 |date=2011 |publisher=Alfred A. Knopf |location=New York |isbn=9780307265722 |page=286}}</ref>

== Infectious diseases ==
{{Main|Age of Discovery|European colonization of the Americas|Population history of Indigenous peoples of the Americas}}
{{Further|British colonization of the Americas|Dutch colonization of the Americas|French colonization of the Americas|Portuguese colonization of the Americas|Spanish colonization of the Americas}}

Before the [[first wave of European colonization]], the [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas]] and the [[Caribbean]] are thought to have lived with infrequent [[epidemic]] [[Infectious disease|diseases]], brought about by limited contact between tribes.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last1=Nunn|first1=Nathan|last2=Qian|first2=Nancy|date=May 2010|title=The Columbian Exchange: A History of Disease, Food, and Ideas|journal=Journal of Economic Perspectives|language=en|volume=24|issue=2|pages=163–188|doi=10.1257/jep.24.2.163|issn=0895-3309|url=http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:11986330|doi-access=free}}</ref> This left them socially and biologically unprepared when the Italian explorer [[Christopher Columbus]] and his crew introduced several infectious diseases, including [[typhus]], [[smallpox]], [[influenza]], [[whooping cough]], and [[measles]] following his [[Voyages of Christopher Columbus#First voyage|1492 voyage]] to the [[Americas]].<ref name="McNeill 2019"/><ref name=":0" /> The Old World diseases spread from the carriers to the Indigenous populations, who had no immunity, leading to more serious cases and higher mortality.<ref name="McNeill 2019"/><ref name=":1">"Smallpox Devastates Indigenous Populations." ''Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History.'' Edited by Thomas Riggs. Gale, Farmington, MI, USA, 2015, https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/galegue/smallpox_devastates_indigenous_populations/0</ref> Because the Indigenous societies of the Americas were not used to the diseases as European nations were at the time, there was no system in place to care for the sick.<ref name=":2">Schroeder, Michael. "Epidemics in the Americas, 1450–1750." ''World History: A Comprehensive Reference Set.'' Edited by Facts on File,. Facts On File, New York, NY, USA, 2016, https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/fofworld/epidemics_in_the_americas_1450_1750/0</ref>

[[Smallpox]] is among the most notable of diseases in the [[Columbian Exchange]] due to the high number of deaths and impact on life for Indigenous societies.<ref name="McNeill 2019"/><ref name=":1" /> Smallpox first broke out in the Americas on the island of  [[Hispaniola]] in 1518.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cook |first=Noble David |title=Born to Die: Disease and New World Conquest, 1492-1650 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1998 |pages=26}}</ref> The disease was carried over from Europe, where it had been endemic for over seven hundred years.<ref name=":1" /> Like the other diseases introduced in the time period, the Europeans were familiar with the treatment of the disease and had some natural immunity, which reduced mortality and facilitated quicker recovery.<ref name=":1" /> The [[Taíno|Taíno people]], who inhabited Hispaniola, had no natural smallpox immunity and were unfamiliar with treating epidemic disease.<ref name=":1" />

In 1493, the first recorded [[influenza]] epidemic to strike the Americas occurred on the island of Hispaniola in the northern [[Spanish Empire|Spanish]] settlement of Isabela.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dG4lAQAAIAAJ&q=INfluenza+espana+gripe+1510+a%C3%B1o |title=Kipu |date=1986 |publisher=Ediciones ABYA-YALA |pages=85 |language=es}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Guerra |first=Francisco |date=Autumn 1988 |title=The Earliest American Epidemic: The Influenza of 1493 |journal= Social Science History|volume=12 |issue=3 |pages=303–325 |doi=10.1017/S0145553200018599 |jstor=1171451 |pmid=11618144|s2cid=46540669 }}</ref> The virus was introduced to the Isle of Santo Domingo by the Cristóbal Cólon, which docked at [[La Isabela]] on 10 December 1493, carrying about 2,000 Spanish passengers.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Martin |first=Manuela |date=September 26, 1985 |title=La gripe, peor que la espada |language=es |work=El País |url=https://elpais.com/diario/1985/09/27/sociedad/496620017_850215.html |access-date=April 6, 2020 |issn=1134-6582}}</ref> Despite the general poor health of the colony, Columbus returned in 1494 and found that the Native American population had been affected by disease even more catastrophically than Isabela's first settlers were. By 1506, only a third of the native population remained.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hardman |first=Lizabeth |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YohmDwAAQBAJ&q=1510+influenza+la+isabela&pg=PA37 |title=Influenza Pandemics |date=January 18, 2011 |publisher=Greenhaven Publishing LLC |isbn=978-1-4205-0349-4 |location=Farmington Hills, MI |pages=37 |language=en}}</ref> The Taíno population before European contact is estimated to have been between 60,000 and 8 million people, and the entire nation was virtually extinct 50 years after contact, which has primarily been attributed to the infectious diseases.<ref name=":0" />

After the first European contact, social disruption and epidemic diseases<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5Pvi-ksuKFIC|title=Encyclopedia of Pestilence, Pandemics, and Plagues: A-M|last=Byrne|first=Joseph Patrick|publisher=ABC-CLIO|year=2008|isbn=978-0-313-34102-1|page=413}}{{Dead link|date=November 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> led to a decline in the Amerindian population.<ref>Engerman, p. 486</ref> Because the Indigenous societies, including the Taínos, were unfamiliar with the diseases, they were not prepared to deal with the social consequences.<ref name=":2" /> The high number of people incapacitated by the disease disrupted the normal cycles of agriculture and hunting that sustained the Native American populations.<ref name=":2" /> This led to increased dependence on the Europeans, and reduced capacity to resist the European invasion.<ref name=":2" /> The eventual enslavement of the Taíno people by the Europeans compounded the effects of the epidemics in the downfall of the Indigenous societies.<ref name=":0" />

== Impact of the transatlantic slave trade ==
{{Main|Atlantic slave trade}}
{{Further|History of slavery}}

As the population of enslaved Indigenous peoples fell due to disease and abuse, the [[Spanish Empire|Spanish]] and [[Portuguese Empire|Portuguese]] ''[[conquistador]]s'' began to import [[Slavery in Africa|enslaved workers from Africa]] in 1505.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Keller|first1=Claire|last2=Burstein|first2=Stanley M.|last3=Loewen|first3=James W.|date=February 1996|title=Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong|journal=The History Teacher|volume=29|issue=2|pages=249|doi=10.2307/494748|issn=0018-2745|jstor=494748}}</ref> Until 1800 the population rose as slaves arrived from [[West Africa]].<ref>[http://countrystudies.us/caribbean-islands/8.htm The Sugar Revolutions and Slavery], ''U.S. Library of Congress''</ref> Because there was already an established European colonial presence in Africa at the time, the enslaved Africans were less vulnerable to disease than the Taíno people on Hispaniola.<ref name=":4">{{Cite report|last=Esposito|first=Elena|date=2015|title=Side effects of immunities : the African slave trade|url=http://cadmus.eui.eu//handle/1814/36118|language=en |access-date=5 December 2019}}</ref> However, they came carrying their own diseases, including [[malaria]].<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal|last1=Klein|first1=Herbert S.|last2=Engerman|first2=Stanley L.|last3=Haines|first3=Robin|last4=Shlomowitz|first4=Ralph|date=January 2001|title=Transoceanic Mortality: The Slave Trade in Comparative Perspective|journal=The William and Mary Quarterly|volume=58|issue=1|pages=93–117|doi=10.2307/2674420|jstor=2674420|pmid=18629973|s2cid=7096696|url=https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/e10d/a2dee909db5db51a69e8ae374ba8839a9c60.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200227035924/https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/e10d/a2dee909db5db51a69e8ae374ba8839a9c60.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=2020-02-27}}</ref> At the time, malaria was endemic both in [[Europe]] and [[Africa]], though more prevalent in the latter continent.<ref name=":3" /> The climate of the Caribbean was hospitable to mosquitoes of the genus ''[[Anopheles]]'', which acts as a [[Vector (epidemiology)|vector]] for the disease and allowed it to spread.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Rutman|first1=Darrett B.|last2=Rutman|first2=Anita H.|date=January 1976|title=Of Agues and Fevers: Malaria in the Early Chesapeake|journal=The William and Mary Quarterly|volume=33|issue=1|pages=31–60|doi=10.2307/1921692|jstor=1921692|pmid=11633589}}</ref> Many of the African-born enslaved people had [[Human genetic resistance to malaria|genetic protections against malaria]] that Indigenous enslaved people did not.<ref name=":4" /> As malaria, smallpox, and other diseases spread the Indigenous populations continued to fall, which increased the motivation for the Spanish and Portuguese colonists to continue to import more enslaved workers from Africa.<ref name=":4" /> This enslaved people worked in mining and agriculture, driving the development of [[triangular trade]].<ref name=":4" />

== See also ==
* [[Catholic Church and the Age of Discovery]]
* [[Columbian Exchange]]
* [[HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean]]
* [[Malaria and the Caribbean]]
* [[Native American disease and epidemics]]
* [[Seasoning (colonialism)]]
* [[Timeline of European imperialism]]
* [[Triangular trade]]
* [[Virgin soil epidemic]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== Bibliography ==
* Engerman, Stanley L. "A Population History of the Caribbean", pp.&nbsp;483–528 in ''A Population History of North America'' Michael R. Haines and Richard Hall Steckel (Eds.), Cambridge University Press, 2000, {{ISBN|0-521-49666-7}}.

{{Americas topic|Influx of disease in}}
{{Caribbean topics|state=collapsed}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Influx Of Disease In The Caribbean}}
[[Category:1490s in the Caribbean]]
[[Category:15th-century epidemics]]
[[Category:16th-century epidemics]]
[[Category:17th-century epidemics]]
[[Category:18th-century epidemics]]
[[Category:Atlantic slave trade]]
[[Category:Age of Discovery]]
[[Category:Disease transmission]]
[[Category:Epidemiology]]
[[Category:European colonization of the Caribbean]]
[[Category:Health in the Caribbean]]
[[Category:History of Indigenous peoples of North America]]
[[Category:History of indigenous peoples of the Americas]]
[[Category:History of the Caribbean]]
[[Category:Indigenous health]]
[[Category:Portuguese colonization of the Americas]]
[[Category:Spanish colonization of the Americas]]