The Biological Encounter: Disease and the Ideological Domain

The most devastating aspect of the earliest contact between Europeans and Indians in what is now the US Northeast was the terrible loss of Indian life inflicted by diseases of European origin. Although disease had been present among the Indians before the Europeans arrived, the high mortality of sma...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	American Indian quarterly Vol. 16; no. 4; pp. 511 - 519
Main Author:	Starna, William A.
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Berkeley, Calif Native American Studies Program, University of California, Berkeley 01-10-1992 University of Nebraska Press University of California, Native American Studies Program
Subjects:	American Indians Colonies & territories Communicable diseases Disease Diseases Epidemics Epidemiology History Ideology Indian culture Native Americans Native North Americans Physical anthropology Priests Shamans Smallpox Society of Jesus Tuberculosis
Online Access:	Get full text
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Summary:	The most devastating aspect of the earliest contact between Europeans and Indians in what is now the US Northeast was the terrible loss of Indian life inflicted by diseases of European origin. Although disease had been present among the Indians before the Europeans arrived, the high mortality of smallpox, typhus, measles and other imported diseases and their recurrence in epidemics made them an unprecedented calamity. The epidemics undermined Indian culture and economic life and weakened but did not destroy Indian religion.
ISSN:	0095-182X 1534-1828
DOI:	10.2307/1185296