Demography and the “Great Dying”

How many students are in your school: 500? 1,000? 3,000? Are those numbers growing or shrinking? School administrators find such data useful. It’s called demographic analysis. This tool helps them make decisions about adding a classroom or hiring staff. Historians use demographic analysis, too. It helps them figure out when, where, and why the size of populations have changed. A historical period of particular interest is around the year 1500. A big decline in population occurred among the indigenous people of the Americas after the arrival of Europeans in the late 1400s. It became known as the “Great Dying.”

Demographic changes in the Americas

Christopher Columbus and his crew arrived in the Americas in 1492. Historians continue to piece together what happened to the native population afterward. The European conquerors and colonists brought diseases. These included measles, smallpox, and influenza. Most Europeans had some resistance to these illnesses. However, the diseases were new to the indigenous peoples of the Americas. The germs proved a deadly threat to them. The deadly diseases quickly spread.

Historians are trying to estimate how many indigenous people died from these diseases. Research shows a 50 to 90 percent decline in population. The major question is how many people lived in the Americas before 1492. Historians have estimated their population might have been as high as 112 million. It might have been as low as 8 million. Pretty big difference, right? It raises a lot of questions about how much the arrival of Europeans affected the Americas.

Researchers use different ways to try to answer such questions. They have studied the records Europeans made after they arrived. They have also looked at the archaeological evidence of indigenous settlements. This information helps us estimate how many people lived in the Americas before 1492.

Soon, people from Africa were added to the demographic mix. The European colonists brought enslaved Africans to the Americas. Their labor was used to work the plantations. The steady stream of Europeans and Africans after 1492 led to new societies in the Americas. These groups having children with indigenous people contributed to demographic changes. The Spanish colonial government called people of mixed heritage “mestizo” and “mulatto”.

Demographic changes in Africa

The colonization of the Americas also affected Africa’s population. Millions of young people from African communities were kidnapped. Related wars in Africa resulted in many more deaths. The effects of the slave trade were not felt in the same way in all parts of Africa. Some African people were moved to other parts of sub-Saharan Africa. Populations in some of these regions actually grew, possibly due to new crops from the Americas. But, the enslavement of people did lasting harm to many African cultures.

Sugarcane and the “Plantation Complex”

Millions of enslaved Africans were brought to the Americas as labor. This system is known as the plantation complex. It was made up of large farms run by the colonists. The idea for this system came from the Madeira Islands off the North African coast in the 1420s. Portuguese settlers got rich exporting sugar from the islands to Europe. It was a profitable business model. Spanish and Portuguese producers brought the plantation complex to colonies in the Americas. It changed the environment, populations, and cultures there. Dramatically.

In the 1400s, sugar was one of the most desired products in Europe. Everyone wanted in on the sugar trade. However, the plantations in the Americas came to depend on enslaved labor from Africa.

The effects of forced labor on sugar plantations

The lives of enslaved people on sugar plantations were often cruel and short. The working and living conditions were horrible. Plantations owners used harsh punishments on them. Many enslaved workers did not live long because of injury and illness. Uncounted numbers were worked to death. The high death rate meant more enslaved people were needed. The trade of enslaved people grew.

The indigenous people of the Americas and Africa experienced big changes during this time. These changes were often destructive. European empires were built on the suffering of indigenous Americans. Their wealth depended on the labor of enslaved Africans. This has had lasting consequences on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.