Small Pox Dbq

Smallpox is an acute contagious disease cause by the variola virus, a member of the poxvirus family. The only host of this disease is through human. It is transmitted through close contact. The name smallpox is derived from Latin word for “spotted” and then refers to the raised bumps that appear on the face and body of an infected person. There are two kinds of smallpox; Variola major and Variola minor. Variola major is the most severe one and most common smallpox with extensive rash and high fever. Both cause skin lesions though the symptoms of the Variola minor are considerably fatal. The symptoms of smallpox are as follows; high fever, fatigue, vomiting, headaches. In addition, a rash on the face, arms and legs and other parts of the body

According to Linda Newson, “population size is critical for understanding the incidence of infection. Since endemic infections are characterized by latency and recurrence” . Here I will argue that highly dense population and slavery created conditions extremely favorable for the transmission of smallpox, and that it created huge impact on Spanish conquest. Did slavery and highly dense population increase in the spread of smallpox or it goes beyond these measures? The beginning of smallpox as a character illness is lost in ancient times. It is believed to have appeared in around 10,000BC, around the same time of the first agricultural settlement in northeastern Africa. “It appears conceivable that it spread from that point to India by method of aged Egyptian dealers. The earliest evidence of skin lesions resembling those of smallpox is found on faces of mummies from the time of the 18th and 20th Egyptian Dynasties (1570–1085 BC). Unknown in the New World, smallpox was introduced by the Spanish and Portuguese conquistadors.” (Edward

Many of the Aztecs had fallen ill or died from smallpox, which was said to have brought over by slave abroad Cortes’s ship. Certain conditions in Mexico made are worse for the high death rate from this disease. The spread of the smallpox appeared to have been aggravated by the extreme climatic conditions of the time and by the poor living conditions and harsh treatment by the native people. The Mexican natives were treated virtually as slaves, they were poorly fed and clothed and were greatly overworked on farms as laborers. This harsh treatment appears to have left them very exposed to the epidemic