Editing Colonialism (section)

=== Introduced diseases ===
{{See also|Globalisation and disease|Columbian Exchange|Impact and evaluation of colonialism and colonization}}
[[File:Florentinoviruela.JPG|thumb|Aztecs dying of smallpox, (''[[Florentine Codex]]'', 1540–1585)]]

Encounters between explorers and populations in the rest of the world often introduced new diseases, which sometimes caused local epidemics of extraordinary virulence.<ref>{{cite book|editor-first=Kenneth F. |editor-last=Kiple|title=The Cambridge Historical Dictionary of Disease|date=2003}}</ref> For example, [[smallpox]], measles, malaria, yellow fever, and others were unknown in pre-Columbian America.<ref>{{cite book|first=Alfred W. |last=Crosby, Jr.|title=The Columbian Exchange: Biological and Cultural Consequences of 1492|date=1974}}</ref>

Half the native population of [[Hispaniola]] in 1518 was killed by smallpox. Smallpox also ravaged [[Mexico]] in the 1520s, killing 150,000 in [[Tenochtitlan]] alone, including the emperor, and [[Peru]] in the 1530s, aiding the European conquerors. [[Measles]] killed a further two million Mexican natives in the 17th century. In 1618–1619, smallpox wiped out 90% of the [[Massachusetts Bay]] Native Americans.<ref>Koplow, David, [http://www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/9968/9968.ch01.html "Chapter 1: The Rise and Fall of Smallpox"], ''Smallpox – The Fight to Eradicate a Global Scourge'', University of California Press. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080907093641/http://www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/9968/9968.ch01.html |date=7 September 2008 }}.</ref> Smallpox epidemics in 1780–1782 and [[1837-38 smallpox epidemic|1837–1838]] brought devastation and drastic depopulation among the [[Plains Indians]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Houston |first1=C.S. |last2=Houston |first2=S. |year=2000 |title=The first smallpox epidemic on the Canadian Plains: In the fur-traders' words |journal=The Canadian Journal of Infectious Diseases |volume=11 |issue=2 |pages=112–15 |doi=10.1155/2000/782978 |pmc=2094753 |pmid=18159275|doi-access=free }}</ref> Some believe{{who|date=May 2021}} that the death of up to 95% of the [[Population history of indigenous peoples of the Americas|Native American population]] of the [[New World]] was caused by [[Old World]] diseases.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/gunsgermssteel/variables/smallpox.html |title=Guns Germs & Steel: Variables. Smallpox {{!}} PBS |website=www.pbs.org |access-date=29 September 2019}}</ref> Over the centuries, the Europeans had developed high degrees of [[Immunity (medical)|immunity]] to these diseases, while the [[indigenous peoples]] had no time to build such immunity.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.millersville.edu/~columbus/papers/goodling.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080510163413/http://www.millersville.edu/~columbus/papers/goodling.html|url-status=dead|first=Stacy |last=Goodling|title=Effects of European Diseases on the Inhabitants of the New World|archive-date=10 May 2008}}</ref>

Smallpox decimated the native population of [[Australia]], killing around 50% of [[indigenous Australians]] in the early years of British colonisation.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Smallpox Through History |url=http://encarta.msn.com/media_701508643/Smallpox_Through_History.html|work=Encarta |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091029184350/http://encarta.msn.com/media_701508643/Smallpox_Through_History.html |archive-date=29 October 2009}}</ref> It also killed many New Zealand [[Māori people|Māori]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.canr.msu.edu/overseas/nzenvironsci/infopart2.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100612021507/http://www.canr.msu.edu/overseas/nzenvironsci/infopart2.htm|url-status=dead|title=New Zealand Historical Perspective|archive-date=12 June 2010}}</ref> As late as 1848–49, as many as 40,000 out of 150,000 [[Hawaii]]ans are estimated to have died of [[measles]], [[whooping cough]] and [[influenza]]. Introduced diseases, notably smallpox, nearly wiped out the native population of [[Easter Island]].<ref>[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/how-did-easter-islands-ancient-statues-lead-to-the-destruction-of-an-entire-ecosystem-455877.html How did Easter Island's ancient statues lead to the destruction of an entire ecosystem?], ''The Independent''.</ref> In 1875, [[measles]] killed over 40,000 [[Fiji]]ans, approximately one-third of the population.<ref>[http://www.fsm.ac.fj/aboutfsm.html Fiji School of Medicine] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141020165015/http://www.fsm.ac.fj/aboutfsm.html |date=20 October 2014 }}</ref> The [[Ainu people|Ainu]] population decreased drastically in the 19th century, due in large part
to infectious diseases brought by Japanese settlers pouring into [[Hokkaido]].<ref>Macintyre, Donald, [http://www.time.com/time/asia/features/ontheroad/japan.sapporo.ainu.html "Meeting the First Inhabitants"], TIMEasia.com, 21 August 2000. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110622085958/http://www.time.com/time/asia/features/ontheroad/japan.sapporo.ainu.html |date=22 June 2011 }}.</ref>

Conversely, researchers have hypothesised that a precursor to [[syphilis]] may have been carried from the New World to Europe after [[Christopher Columbus|Columbus]]'s voyages. The findings suggested Europeans could have carried the nonvenereal tropical bacteria home, where the organisms may have mutated into a more deadly form in the different conditions of Europe.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/15/science/15syph.html |title=Genetic Study Bolsters Columbus Link to Syphilis|first=John Noble |last=Wilford|newspaper=The New York Times|date=15 January 2008}}</ref> The disease was more frequently fatal than it is today; syphilis was a major killer in Europe during the [[Renaissance]].<ref>{{Cite journal |title=Columbus May Have Brought Syphilis to Europe |url=http://www.livescience.com/history/080114-syphilis-columbus.html|first= Charles Q. |last=Choi  |journal=LiveScience|date=15 January 2008 }}</ref> The [[first cholera pandemic]] began in [[Bengal]], then spread across India by 1820. Ten thousand British troops and countless Indians died during this [[pandemic]].<ref>[https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/cholera-s-seven-pandemics-1.758504 Cholera's seven pandemics]. CBC News. 2 December 2008.</ref> Between 1736 and 1834 only some 10% of [[East India Company]]'s officers survived to take the final voyage home.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.asianreviewofbooks.com/new/?revID=610 |title=Review {{!}} Sahib: The British Soldier in India, 1750–1914 by Richard Holmes|first=Nigel |last=Collett |date=27 October 2005 |website=Asian Review of Books|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120530044859/http://www.asianreviewofbooks.com/new/?revID=610 |archive-date=30 May 2012 |access-date=29 September 2019}}</ref> [[Waldemar Haffkine]], who mainly worked in India, who developed and used [[vaccine]]s against [[cholera]] and [[bubonic plague]] in the 1890s, is considered the first [[microbiologist]].

According to a 2021 study by [[Jörg Baten]] and Laura Maravall on the [[Anthropometry|anthropometric]] influence of colonialism on Africans, the [[human height|average height]] of Africans decreased by 1.1 centimetres upon colonization and later recovered and increased overall during colonial rule. The authors attributed the decrease to diseases, such as [[malaria]] and [[African trypanosomiasis|sleeping sickness]], [[Forced labour|forced labor]] during the early decades of colonial rule, conflicts, [[land grabbing]], and [[1890s African rinderpest epizootic|widespread cattle deaths]] from the [[rinderpest]] viral disease.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Baten|first1=Joerg |last2=Maravall|first2=Laura|date=2021|title=The Influence of Colonialism on Africa's Welfare: An Anthropometric Study|journal=Journal of Comparative Economics|volume=49|issue=3|pages=751–775|doi=10.1016/j.jce.2021.01.001}}</ref>

==== Countering disease ====
As early as 1803, the [[Enlightenment in Spain|Spanish]] Crown organised a mission (the [[Balmis expedition]]) to transport the smallpox vaccine to the [[Spanish Empire|Spanish colonies]], and establish mass vaccination programs there.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.doh.gov.ph/sphh/balmis.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041223112019/http://www.doh.gov.ph/sphh/balmis.htm|title=Dr. Francisco de Balmis and his Mission of Mercy, Society of Philippine Health History.|archive-date=23 December 2004}}</ref> By 1832, the federal government of the United States established a [[Smallpox vaccine|smallpox vaccination]] program for Native Americans.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://muse.jhu.edu/login?uri=/journals/wicazo_sa_review/v018/18.2pearson01.html| title = Lewis Cass and the Politics of Disease: The Indian Vaccination Act of 1832.| access-date = 12 February 2022| archive-date = 5 February 2008| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080205230347/http://muse.jhu.edu/login?uri=%2Fjournals%2Fwicazo_sa_review%2Fv018%2F18.2pearson01.html| url-status = dead}}</ref> Under the direction of [[Mountstuart Elphinstone]] a program was launched to propagate [[smallpox vaccination]] in India.<ref>[http://www.smallpoxhistory.ucl.ac.uk/Other%20Asia/ongoingwork.htm Smallpox History – Other histories of smallpox in South Asia.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120416015559/http://www.smallpoxhistory.ucl.ac.uk/Other%20Asia/ongoingwork.htm |date=16 April 2012 }}</ref> From the beginning of the 20th century onwards, the elimination or control of disease in tropical countries became a driving force for all colonial powers.<ref>[http://www.gresham.ac.uk/event.asp?PageId=45&EventId=696 Conquest and Disease or Colonialism and Health?] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081207015726/http://www.gresham.ac.uk/event.asp?PageId=45&EventId=696 |date=7 December 2008 }}, Gresham College | Lectures and Events.</ref> The [[African trypanosomiasis|sleeping sickness]] epidemic in Africa was arrested due to mobile teams systematically screening millions of people at risk.<ref>{{Cite web |website=WHO Media centre |year=2001 |title=Fact sheet N°259: African trypanosomiasis or sleeping sickness |url=https://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs259/en/index.html}}</ref> In the 20th century, the world saw the biggest increase in its population in [[human history]] due to lessening of the [[mortality rate]] in many countries due to [[History of medicine#Modern medicine|medical advances]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Iliffe |first=John |year=1989 |title=The Origins of African Population Growth |journal=The Journal of African History |volume=30 |issue=1 |pages=165–69 |doi=10.1017/s0021853700030942 |jstor=182701|s2cid=59931797 }}</ref> The [[world population]] has grown from 1.6&nbsp;billion in 1900 to over seven billion today.{{Citation needed|date=April 2021}}