Smallpox epidemic on the Pacific coast of North America from 1775

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The smallpox epidemic on the Pacific coast of North America from 1775 was in all likelihood brought in by Spanish explorer ships. Its main focus was probably in the area of ​​today's US state Washington , especially around the Puget Sound and on the west coast. An estimated 30% of the population fell victim there, possibly more, many survivors suffered serious health effects. The total number of victims is estimated at over 11,000. Because of this and other epidemics, of the original 36,000 inhabitants, only around 9,000 remained alive until around 1850.

It was the first smallpox epidemic on the Pacific coast and killed several tribes. Its range stretched from Oregon to Alaska , and it is likely to have damaged regional cultures to an extent that has not yet been estimated.

The Vancouver Expedition Reports

Hood Canal

On May 12, 1792, the expedition member Archibald Menzies noted : "Many Indians marked by smallpox - a number of them have lost an eye". Two days later, the expedition leader George Vancouver noted that two days earlier his people had met a man on the Hood Canal who had suffered badly from smallpox. “Not only is the unfortunate disease common, but it must be understood that among them it is most fatal, as its indelible signs are seen in many; many have lost sight in one eye, and it has been found that it was mostly the left one, which is attributed to the pathogenic effects of this sinister evil. "

On May 21, Peter Puget discovered during an encounter with a canoe in the sound later named after him that two of the three rowers were blind in their right eye, which he also attributed to smallpox. At the beginning of June, the expedition ships anchored in front of the later Port Discovery at the entrance of the Juan de Fuca Strait . Vancouver noted for a nearby village: “The houses seem to have been the home of the Indians until recently. The dwellings were not yet in decline; the interior, as well as a small surrounding area that was recently inhabited, were overgrown with weeds; in between you found several human skulls and other bones, scattered wildly "

In mid-June, on the east side of Puget Sound , members of the expedition landed near an abandoned village while exploring the local Semiahmoo and Boundary Bays. The village, enough for 400 to 500 inhabitants, was empty and only the “skeletons” of the houses could be seen. Menzies noted in his journal: “We found few residents in the Northwest Arms, but judging by the abandoned villages they encountered during the expedition, the land appears to have been much more populated than it is now, despite them could not figure out what was causing this apparent depopulation.

In his book, The Coming of the Spirit of Pestilence , Robert Boyd found that seasonal migrations did not provide sufficient explanation for these types of traces, let alone descriptions of the consequences of the disease. Only an epidemic could leave such marks.

Oral transmission

For some tribes, the memory of this catastrophe has made its way into the collective memory. Charles Hill-Tout interviewed an old Squamish man in the 1890s . But this brought the epidemic in connection with a salmon disease. Nevertheless, the symptomatic skin changes, the short incubation period and the spread from camp to camp indicate a rapid epidemic.

Also, Edward S. Curtis interviewed one of the Indians from the north-west of Vancouver Island , who reported Ur-great-grandfather of his: "As great as the mortality rate was in this epidemic, that it was not possible for the survivors to bury the dead. They just tore down the houses above and left them ”.

Since no vaccination was possible - it was only discovered in 1798 and probably first used in Puget Sound in 1836-37 - at least 30%, perhaps 50-70%, as in 1862, are likely to have died according to the more easily understood mortality rate of other, unprepared peoples the Haida .

The distribution area

There is news of smallpox showing that the epidemic was rampant between Alaska and Oregon. Nathaniel Portlock, an English fur trader, attests to her appearance at Sitka in Alaska in 1787 . He was expecting a large people there, but he noted: “I noticed the oldest of the men, who was severely marked by smallpox, similar to a girl about 14 years old… The old man… told me that the disease (distemper) was a great one Number of residents and that he himself lost ten children ”.

The participants of the Lewis and Clark expedition found traces of the disease on the lower Columbia River . On April 3, 1806, William Clark noted that "an old man ... presented a woman badly disfigured by smallpox, and he made signs that they were all dying of the" disorder "that marked their faces and that they were near was about to die of it as a girl ”. Clark estimated the time of the eruption to be between 1776 and 1778. In October 1805, Clark had attributed the high number of people with blindness at the mouth of the Columbia River to constant hunting in the river and the glaring sunlight, which in winter also came from the snow-capped mountains was reflected.

Fur traders reported similar tracks, also beyond the Cascade Mountains . In April 1829, John Work, an employee of the Hudson's Bay Company , was in Fort Colville reporting an epidemic of smallpox that might have occurred fifty or sixty years ago. In his opinion, this disease must have claimed immense victims.

Bruno de Hezeta's ship

But the source of this rapid disaster has long been unclear. The Russian peninsula of Kamchatka , which had suffered a smallpox epidemic in 1768, was an option. A transmission from the east would also be conceivable, but this is considered rather unlikely.

The ships led by Quadra and Bruno de Hezeta, which landed in Trinidad Bay in California and with the Quinault in Washington and also with Sitka in Alaska in 1775 , are probably the most likely carriers. This is also indicated by an unknown illness that plagued the crew of the Santiago.

This first smallpox epidemic was followed by others, probably around 1800 to 1801, then more in the 1830s to 1860s. Then there was the flu and measles , which also killed thousands.

The smallpox epidemic around 1800 is known to spread far to the east, or to come from there. The Omaha , the Ponca and other tribes that Lewis and Clark's expedition encountered were so badly affected that up to three quarters of the tribe died from it.

At least occasionally the disease flared up again and again, for example in 1790, when the visit of a ship under the leadership of the Spaniard Manuel Quimper in July 1790 to the Beecher Bay First Nation transmitted the disease, among the Lower Elwha Klallam found themselves at Tse-whit-zen im In 2005 at least 335 skeletons.

Causes of the high death rate

It does not go far enough if one assumes that it was only the first occurrence of the pathogen and thus the complete lack of awareness of the pathogen that led to such a high death rate - the death rate in Europe was around a third. This was just one of several factors. Even those for whom the course of the disease might have been easier, at least not fatal, were often no longer cared for at the height of the disease because so many were affected at the same time, and died of thirst or starvation. This was especially true for children, but at certain times of the year, e.g. B. with increased dependence on hunting successes, also for the failure of the main supplier. In addition, the total despair should not be underestimated, which apparently drove many to suicide.

In addition, the families lived close together, often with several families in one house. After all, the healing methods, especially sweating , were not effective for this type of disease - on the contrary. There are reports of the Cherokee , who laid hands on themselves en masse in the face of the smallpox epidemic of 1738, similar to the Mandan in 1837. The loss of one's neighbor, the complete dissolution of the community, but also physical disfigurement played an important role. This self-abandonment in turn is likely to have undermined the body's defenses.

See also

literature

  • Robert Boyd: The Coming of the Spirit of Pestilence. Introduced infectious diseases and population decline among Northwest Coast Indians, 1774–1874. University of Washington Press, Seattle 1999, ISBN 0-295-97837-6 .
  • Rudolf Oeser: Epidemics - The great death of the Indians. Books on Demand 2003, ISBN 3-8330-0583-1 .

Remarks

  1. ↑ Several Indians pock mark'd - a number of them had lost an eye ”(Menzies, 29).
  2. ↑ "This deplorable disease is not only common, but it is greatly to be apprehended is very fatal amongst them, as its indelible marks were seen on many; and several had lost the sight of one eye, which was remarked to be generally the left "Owing most likely to the virulent effects of this baneful disorder" (Vancouver, Volume 2, pp. 241-242).
  3. ^ Peter Puget, Pacific North West Quarterly, 198.
  4. ↑ The houses… did not seem to have been lately the residence of the Indians. The habitations had now fallen into decay; their inside, as well as a small surrounding space that appeared to have been formerly occupied, were overrun with weeds; amongst which were found several human sculls, and other bones, promiscuously scattered about ”(Vancouver, Vol. 2, pp. 229-230).
  5. ↑ At the conclusion of this 12-day exploration Menzies wrote in his journal: “In this excursion the Boats went… about a hundred & five leagues. They found but few Inhabitants in the Northern branches but if they might judge from the deserted Villages they met in this excursion, the Country appeard to be formerly much more numerously inhabited than at present, tho they could form no conjecture or opinion on the cause of this apparent depopulation which had not an equal chance of proving fallacious from their circumscribed knowledge of the manners & modes of living of the natives ”(Menzies, 60, 63).
  6. ↑ Boyd, 55.
  7. ↑ Boyd, Jan.
  8. ↑ Boyd, 23-24.
  9. ↑ Boyd, Jan.
  10. ↑ William Clark wrote on October 17, 1805: “Those people ... are subject to sore eyes, and many are blind of one and Some of both eyes. this misfortune must be owing to the reflections of the sun & c. on the waters in which they are continually fishing during the Spring Summer & fall, & the snows dureing the, winter Seasons, in this open countrey where the eye has no rest. "
  11. ↑ Unearthing Tse-whit-zen , in: Seattle Times 22. – 25. May 2005.
  12. ↑ Oeser, p. 49f.