Smallpox
in relation to the Columbian Exchange
Smallpox: The Basics & Its Spread
Smallpox is a disease that causes rashes and bumps all over the body. Many experience pain in the muscles, the chills, and a fever. Some cases cause headaches, pus buildup, lesions on the skin, or vomiting. During the Columbian Exchange, which was the spread of goods and ideas between the Old World (Africa & Europe) and the New World (the Americas), smallpox was spread over to the Western Hemisphere.
Columbian Exchange
A variety of goods (such as peanuts, potatoes, turnips, onions, peaches, etc.) and diseases (smallpox, typhus, whooping cough, etc.)
Smallpox Vaccination Poster
This poster was created during the height of the outbreak. The purpose was to educate the public to protect themselves from this dangerous disease.
Trade
This picture demonstrates how ideas and diseases were traded back and forth, but the people weren't consciously aware of it.
The Harmful Effects
As smallpox spread to the Americas, the population there was not prepared to handle the outbreak. The indigenous population quickly became infected with the disease that the Europeans brought over, and up to 90% of the population died from the combined effects of the disease and the European's weapons. Smallpox was considered a "biological weapon" because of the sheer power the virus had to kill. In fact, smallpox killed more Native Americans than physical weapons did.