Latest / The Rise of Colonialism: How Europe Divided the World — Fexingo History / The Devastation of the Americas: Smallpox and the Fall
Transcript
- Lucas: So we've talked a lot about the Spanish and Portuguese getting a foothold in the Americas — the swords, the guns, the horses. But today I want to talk about the silent killer that did most of the work. Luna: You mean disease? Lucas: Exactly. Specifically smallpox. It's hard to overstate how much of the Americas' collapse was biological, not just military. Some estimates say that in the first century after contact, indigenous populations dropped by ninety percent in some regions. And smallpox was the opening act. Luna: Ninety percent? That's almost total. Lucas: Yeah, and it starts even before Columbus's second voyage. In 1493, smallpox lands in Hispaniola. It probably came from Spain, maybe via the Canary Islands, riding along with the crew and livestock. The Taino people there had never seen it, so it rips through them like a fire. Lucas: But the infamous outbreak that people know about is the one that hits Tenochtitlan in 1520, in the middle of Cortés's siege. The Aztec capital — a city of maybe two hundred thousand — is already on its knees, and then smallpox arrives. Luna: Was that the first time the Aztecs had been exposed? Lucas: Probably not entirely, but the 1520 outbreak is the devastating one. It actually helps Cortés because it kills the new emperor, Cuitláhuac, who had taken over after Moctezuma's death. And it kills warriors, nobles, commoners alike. The city is already short on food and water, and then people are dying in the streets. Lucas: There's this haunting passage from the Florentine Codex, compiled by a Franciscan friar who interviewed Aztec survivors. They describe the pustules, the sores that covered faces and bodies, and how people couldn't walk or move. Some starved because they were too sick to get food. It's one of the most direct indigenous accounts we have. Luna: So smallpox wasn't just a background factor, it was a weapon. Lucas: It wasn't deliberately deployed in that case, but it might as well have been. The Spanish didn't need to win every battle because disease had already hollowed out the resistance. Lucas: And then the same thing happens in Peru. Smallpox reaches the Inca Empire before Pizarro even shows up. It likely arrived around 1524-1527, and it kills the emperor Huayna Capac and maybe his designated heir. That triggers a succession crisis between his sons Atahualpa and Huascar. They end up fighting a civil war, which leaves the empire divided and exhausted. Luna: So smallpox basically set up Pizarro's invasion. Lucas: Exactly. By the time Pizarro meets Atahualpa in Cajamarca in 1532, the empire is already weakened. Smallpox had done a lot of the heavy lifting. Luna: And the people had no immunity at all. Lucas: Right. That's the whole story of Virgin Soil epidemics. Populations that have never been exposed to a pathogen have no built-up resistance. And smallpox is brutal — it kills maybe thirty percent of the people it infects, but when it's virgin soil, the death rate can be much higher. Lucas: But it's not just smallpox. Measles, influenza, typhus — they all pile on in the decades that follow. The result is a demographic disaster that reshapes the entire hemisphere. Lucas: And here's a thought that's worth sitting with for a second. All those histories we've been talking about — the conquest of the Aztecs, the Incas, the encomienda system, the silver mines — they all happened in a world that was already being depopulated by disease. The colonizers weren't walking into full-strength societies; they were walking into the aftermath of an epidemic. Luna: That changes how you see everything. Lucas: It does. And you know, it reminds me that all this stuff we're talking about — the expeditions, the battles, the treaties — it's not just about what people did, it's also about the invisible forces that shaped their choices. Lucas: And that's something we try to keep in mind on this show, because we're not just telling stories, we're trying to understand the whole messy picture. If you've been going on these journeys with us, and you feel like we're adding something to your day, you know, the smallest thing you can do is buy us a coffee — buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. That's the link that keeps us going, and it really helps. Luna: Yeah, it's a tiny gesture, but it means a lot to us. Lucas: Anyway, back to smallpox. The Florentine Codex also mentions a specific word for the disease that the Aztecs used: cocoliztli. It's a general term for epidemic, but it shows how they were trying to make sense of something that seemed supernatural. Lucas: Another thing that's fascinating is how the Spanish sometimes used disease to their advantage, even if not deliberately. There are accounts of them giving contaminated blankets to indigenous groups — I should be careful here, because that's contested, but there are a few documented cases, like at Fort Pitt in the 1760s during the Pontiac War. So it's not a clean story of accidental spread. Luna: So there was also deliberate biological warfare. Lucas: In some cases, yes, though it wasn't a systematic strategy early on. It's more that the Spanish benefited from disease, and sometimes they recognized it and even exploited it. Lucas: But the bigger picture is that these epidemics didn't just kill people; they shattered social structures. When a community loses elders, priests, and healers, the knowledge and stability of that society are gone. That made it even harder for indigenous people to resist or rebuild. Lucas: So the conquest of the Americas is a story of steel, gunpowder, and smallpox. And maybe the smallpox is the most decisive of all. Luna: It's hard to wrap your head around that scale of death. Lucas: And we should say, the numbers are debated. Estimates for the pre-contact population of the Americas range from fifty to a hundred million, and by 1600 it might have been down to five or six million. That's a loss of over ninety percent in some regions. It's one of the greatest demographic catastrophes in history. Lucas: And it's something that echoes into the present. When we look at colonial histories, we have to remember that disease was a major actor, not just a backdrop. It's a sobering thought, but it also makes you appreciate how fragile human societies can be when faced with something new. Luna: Yeah, it makes you think about our own world and global pandemics. Lucas: Exactly. So next time you hear about Cortés or Pizarro, remember that they were riding into a world already devastated by an enemy they couldn't see.