ZKEA

Biological Warfare : Biological Terrorism : Emerging Diseases

Smallpox, Native Americans

Smallpox is perfectly adapted to humans and lives nowhere else. There is no animal reservoir to which the virus can retreat - only human beings can carry smallpox. Given this, human populations had to reach a certain critical mass before smallpox could reach our species. Only when there was a sufficiently concentrated population was it possible for the chain of infection to continue unbroken. Given this, the successful evolution of smallpox had to wait until large cities were developed. Once these were available, however, the perfect ecology was thus available to the virus. Smallpox settled in and spread death and terror for countless centuries.

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By the 1500s smallpox had long been established in the Old World. Although the virus there caused significant mortality, the Old World populations had evolved some level of immunity. Thus it was not possible for smallpox epidemics to completely wipe out a given population. However, this was not the case with the New World. Here smallpox was unknown and thus all Native Americans were biologically naive - immunologically susceptible to the most lethal forms of the disease.

Smallpox was accidentally introduced to the America's during its first contact with the Europeans. The broad exchange that followed is known as the Columbian Exchange and resulted in a two-way transfer of a number of plant and animal species - as well as virulent pathogens. This exchange of pathogens, particularly smallpox, was devastating to the Native American societies. Due to the resulting epidemics, they suffered a demographic implosion. Some regions lost over 90% of their original native population.

At the time of the Columbian Exchange the estimated population of North and South America was at least 40 million. Due to imported pathogens, in a few centuries these populations fell to just a few million. This demographic catastrophe had some obvious ramifications, such as paving the way for easy conquest of the America's by European settlers. But it also had some less-obvious ramifications. For example, the introduction of slavery was largely due to the lack of enslaveable natives. Native Americans were simply too few and tended to die too easily. Thus the forced import of Africans became necessary to provide labor for the plantation economies.

Smallpox is devastating when introduced naturally, but it is also a preferred weapon for "artificial" epidemics. The virus is deadly and easily transmitted, and can easily generate enough fear and panic so as to overwhelm any society. This is particularly true for biologically naive populations, such as the original Native Americans, where smallpox usually means death or permanent disability.

Generally smallpox was spread inadvertently, well ahead of the Europeans. For example, by the time explorers reached the remoter parts of the Andes, all they found were empty cities where rich civilizations had previously flourished. Likewise the east coast of North American was largely depopulated by smallpox by the time European colonial efforts ramped up. Similarly, early explorers of the Pacific Northwest found empty villages instead of thriving communities. Those Indians who were left exhibited the reasons for this carnage: most were deeply scarred from the smallpox lesions and many were at least partially blind.

But, at least once, smallpox was used directly as a weapon. This was the infamous case of General Jeffrey Amherst in 1763, for which Amherst Massachusetts is named. The good general was in command of troops in the Ohio area. Certain native tribes in the area had become increasingly hostile. In response, the general wrote a letter to a subordinate outlining a plan to "Extirpate this Execrable Race" via the dispensation of smallpox-infected blankets. The order was carried out with military efficiency. A smallpox epidemic duly took hold amongst the tribes. Mortality was very high. Some tribal groups virtually vanished, and the rest suffered severe population losses. The virus did a very thorough job in breaking the rebellion.

The colonial Americans took this little history lesson to heart; George Washington was sufficiently concerned about artificially-spread smallpox that he instituted special measures to protect the Revolutionary Army. These included efforts to check the source of all blankets and clothing, so that the British couldn't repeat the Amherst feat with the American forces.

Sometimes the use of smallpox was a bit more implicit. For example, a smallpox epidemic began in Victoria British Columbia in 1862, afflicting both whites and natives. However, medical authorities allegedly only vaccinated whites against the spread of the disease and very few natives. As a result the epidemic took root amongst the native tribes, killing about half the population from Victoria to Alaska.

What happened to the Native Americans might seem like just an interesting piece of history, sad perhaps, but of no relevance to the modern world. After all, isn't smallpox extinct in the wild?

Probably, but smallpox is certainly not extinct in the weapons lab. The tangled history of these lab viruses and the threat they pose to the world is not widely known. However the threat is real and sufficient to keep experts awake at night. It is known that a number of countries possess the virus, and it is known that this virus has been weaponized in the past. What would happen if smallpox were used in a terrorist attack? Such an attack could dwarf the apocalypse that befell the first American people, possibly killing hundreds of millions of people. As 9/11 and recent history has demonstrated, there is no lack of motivation for such an attack. And given the cessation of smallpox vaccinations and the advent of engineered super-poxes, the entire world is now biologically naive. Today we are all Native Americans - completely susceptible to the most lethal aspects of smallpox.

Link: Jeffrey Amherst and Smallpox Blankets
Link: Exterminate Them - An Original Letter
Link: Further background discussion on smallpox and Native Americans
Link: Smallpox epidemics in Northwest America in 1770s
Link: 1862 Smallpox epidemic in Victoria, Vaccination of Whites and Indians