The demographic collapse of the Americas

La catástrofe demográfica americana

1492–1650. After 1492 the Indigenous population of the Americas fell catastrophically.

What happened

After 1492 the Indigenous population of the Americas fell catastrophically. Nobody knows how many people lived there before contact: serious estimates run from about 8 million to over 100 million, and the editor of the standard survey, William Denevan, settled on roughly 54 million, falling to under 6 million by 1650, a loss of around 90 per cent. The main killer was disease: smallpox, measles, influenza and other Old World infections to which Americans had no immunity, spreading often ahead of the Spaniards themselves. War, forced labour, slavery, famine and the breakdown of communities added to the toll. The Caribbean islands were largely emptied of Taíno within decades; central Mexico and the Andes lost most of their people over a century.

Events along the way

• 12 October 1492: Columbus reaches America
• 13 August 1521: The fall of Tenochtitlan
• 16 November 1532: Cajamarca: Pizarro captures Atahualpa
• 1512: The Laws of Burgos
• 20 November 1542: The New Laws of the Indies

Connected

• Columbus reaches America (12 October 1492)
• The Laws of Burgos (1512)
• The New Laws of the Indies (20 November 1542)

Sources

1. The Native Population of the Americas in 1492 (ed. William M. Denevan), 2nd ed. — University of Wisconsin Press, via Project MUSE
2. Columbian Exchange — World History Encyclopedia
3. The Iberian Conquest of the Americas — World History Encyclopedia
4. Atahualpa — World History Encyclopedia
5. Hernán Cortés — World History Encyclopedia
6. Las congregaciones de Veracruz en la época hispánica (Juan Pablo Salazar Andreu), Iushistoria — Universidad del Salvador (Argentina)