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what were the epidemics?
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When European colonized the Americas, they did have superior military technology,
and they did have a much greater number of people. But perhaps the greatest factor
in the relatively sudden overcoming of the native people by the Europeans was
due to diseases introduced into the area by the Europeans.
Native Americans had no resistance to diseases that had been ravaging Europe for centuries.
So not only smallpox, but also measles, syphilis, and influenza, were often fatal to the Native peoples.
Whole villages were wiped out. When Lewis and Clark first traveled down the
Columbia in 1805, they saw many villages completely abandoned.
A large percentage of the population died. This demoralized native people and made it less possible for them to resist the
invasion by European settlers.
The death rate of Indians was so great in the 19th century, that most people, both Indian and European, believed that soon all Native Americans would vanish from the land.
This was an extremely dark period for Native Americans.
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