Indigenous people
on the northwest
coast often lived
in densely populated
villages and were
unaffected by the
health problems
associated with
living in densely
populated villages
in europe. This
is because prior
to european contact
there were no density
dependent infectious
diseases on the
northwest coast.
Because they shared
no co-evolutionary
relationship with
infectious diseases
the indigenous people
had developed no
immunities whatsoever.
Thus, with the arrival
of the europeans
the stage was set
for the rapid and
catastrophic spread
of infectious diseases
among the indigenous
population. The
diseases included
small pox, measles,
influenza and whooping
cough - all density
dependent diseases
spread by coughing
and sneezing; malaria
and typhus - spread
by insects; and
typhoid and dysentery
- spread by contact
with polluted water.
Many of these diseases
were introduced
prior to direct
european contact.
In other words,
they reached the
population by spreading
over trade and communication
routes that developed
over the millennia
and that linked
indigenous people
up and down coast
and into the interior.
The diseases are
believed to have
spread from the
Russians in the
north, the Spanish
in the south, and
the French, British,
and Americans in
the east.
While not directly
observed, the Smallpox
Epidemics of 1775
& 1801 are estimated
to have killed 30%
of the coastal population.
This is based journal
accounts of abandoned
villages, people
hideously disfigured
by pock marks and
blindness, and oral
history. These epidemics
are believed to
have been introduced
by the Bodega y
Quadra expedition
of 1775. Subsequent
epidemics were documented
in personal journals,
ships logs, and
Hudson's Bay Company
census records,
as well as being
the subject of historical
epidemiology. These
sources reveal at
least seven more
waves of disease
including the:
-
Smallpox (?) Epidemic
of 1824/25, estimated
30% mortality
or remaining population
-
Malaria Epidemic
of 1830, estimated
85% mortality
of remaining population
- Smallpox
Epidemic of 1836-38,
estimated 35%
mortality of remaining
population
- "Immigrant
Diseases"
of 1830’s
- whooping cough,
measles, typhoid
fever, dysentery
- Measles
Epidemic of 1948
in Clayoquot Sound
- Smallpox
Epidemics of 1853
& 1862
- Smallpox
Epidemics of 1974
in Barkley Sound
Estimates of
the pre-contact
(pre-1774) population
size vary widely
from 200,000 to
upwards of 2,000,000.
One cause of this
variability lies
in the nature
of methods used
to make the population
estimates. On
the other hand,
there is general
agreement among
researchers that
the northwest
coast was one
of the most densely
populated non-agricultural
areas in the world,
and that in the
100 years following
1774 the population
declined by approximately
80%.
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