Adapt and Survive - The Arrival of Europeans

Even before mass European settlement of modern-day New England, native people in the Northeast began catching and dying from new diseases in astounding numbers. Before European contact, North America had a population of about 18,000,000 people. These new diseases caused the deaths of nearly 90% of that population. Spread via trade routes from Europeans in New Brunswick, Canada, native people across the Northeast were exposed to germs to which their bodies had no immunity. Their numbers began to dwindle, which weakened their military capabilities before and after the arrival of English settlers.

At the time, no one knew why the native people were succumbing to diseases that did not affect the European colonists in such great numbers. While native people suffered the emotional effects of losing family and friends, Europeans colonists used these plagues, and the fact that native people were dying off rapidly, as justification for colonization.

Secondary Source

“European colonization had a significant impact on the Native peoples of New England. Foremost, it led to the spread of disease, which led to a demographic catastrophe among Native American communities like Pawtucket [what is now Lowell]. Native towns and villages experienced a severe decline in their population…. Disease led to a population decline among Native Americans, as most experts estimate today, of about 90 percent. The 1616-18 and 1633-34 smallpox epidemics had particularly devastating impacts on the Pennacook Indians living in the lower Merrimack River Valley. Smallpox returned again in 1639. In 1647, it was followed by influenza. In 1649-50, another smallpox epidemic broke out in New England, trailed by diphtheria in 1659. In the long run, disease rendered the Pennacook Indian lands vulnerable to English colonization.”