The use of disease and vaccines as a tool for colonization pt. 1
Accidental discovery of the americas
The “discovery” of the Americas by Christopher Columbus in 1492 was accidental. His original mission was to find a westward route to the Indian Ocean Trade, which was exclusive to Afro-Asian territories. When Columbus landed in the Americas, he mistakenly though he had reach India, thus calling the indigenous people “Indians.”
Conquering through disease and deception
Although Columbus failed to gain control of the Indian Ocean Trade, he conquered the Americas using disease and vaccination as tools for colonization. One of the first destinations was an island he renamed Hispaniola, which is now Haiti and Dominican Republic, home to the Taino people. The Tainos welcomed Columbus and his crew with weapons down and open arms, but Columbus’ had sinister intentions. He describes in the journal entry that:
“[The Tainos] will give all that they do possess for anything that is given to them, exchanging things even for bits of broken crockery.. They were very well built, with handsome bodies and very good faces… They do not carry arms or know them…They should be good servants.”
Columbus used this to his advantage, eventually enslaving the Taino people. This false pretense of gift giving is what allowed Columbus and the Spaniards to build infrastructure and bank systems in this foreign land.
The Taino genocide: smallpox and its deadly impact
Sadly, disease played a major role in the Taino’s genocide. Smallpox, brought over by the Europeans, decimated 30% of the Taino population. Before Columbus’s arrival in 1494, a population estimated at three million dropped by 85% in less than 50 years. Now this tribe in declared extinct.
Setting a precent for colonization
The genocide of the Tainos set a precedent for how European powers would use disease as a weapons in their conquests throughout the 16th and 17th centuries. Both indigenous populations and Europeans themselves were ravaged by these diseases as the conquest over resources, land and power continued globally, including in the Indian Ocean Trade.
Conclusion
The introduction of diseases and vaccines to new territories became a critical tactic for European colonizers, often devastating native populations. Columbus’s exploitation of the Tainos exemplifies how disease, combined with deceit, was used to conquer and control lands. In the upcoming blogs, we will explore how these tactics were further used across other territories and their long-term impact on global health systems.
