The microscopic settler: smallpox dissemination in the context of european New World exploration

The beginning of colonization in Spanish America is closely linked to biological and historical factors. From the moment the first Europeans landed in the Caribbean and interacted with the natives, biological differences were established, which were crucial for the beginning of one of the greatest episodes of demographic decline ever experienced by humanity. From the perspective of the History of Science, we seek to analyze the Spanish invasion of Mexican and Caribbean territory in an interdisciplinary way, by surveying written and pictorial documentary sources that express the impact of smallpox on high indigenous mortality rates. Once separated, Europe and America collided in one of the first global-scale events in history.