18th Century: Smallpox decimates the Yavapai Tribe. (1 ene 1830 año – 1 ene 1880 año)

Descripción:

In 1837, one of the largest smallpox outbreaks occurred. Originating in Missouri, the smallpox outbreak reached all corners of America. With new European settlers arriving in Arizona and new contact being made with the Yavapai tribe, the outbreak spread quickly among the tribe as they had never encountered smallpox before. While there isn’t an exact statistic, it is widely known that the smallpox outbreak reduced tribal populations significantly.

Seeing that the Yavapai people had no immunity to these new European diseases, many white people decided purposely give the Yavapai people smallpox through gifts.

"Then some White people come around and tell the Indians to go down to Yuma. Tell them, the White people down there are sure nice and will give them lots of clothes...The Yavapai bring back lots of clothes with them. Give it to others. But then they get the smallpox. Lots of them died like that...They say, it is like you get burnt with water. And when it goes away it leaves marks all over. Some of the old people I saw used to have these marks. My grandmother said, that disease is hard to heal." -Yavapai Elder (Oral History of the Yavapai).

Image 1: An Indigenous drawing depicting a person afflicted with smallpox.

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