After 1492

What Do The Numbers Tell Us?

Abstract

The indigenous populations of the Americas experienced a sea-change in demographic patterns following the establishment of sustained contact with peoples from the Old World. Conventional wisdom maintains that epidemics of highly contagious “crowd” diseases such as smallpox decimated indigenous populations, and that demographic collapse may have been in the range of 90 percent of contact population levels calculated from estimates based on little concrete evidence. Over time indigenous populations acquired immunities, and recovered. This article suggests, based on the presentation of two detailed case studies, that the conventional wisdom regarding post-1492 indigenous demographic patterns should be reconsidered, and that well-documented case studies will refine our understanding of demographic patterns.