Demography Of The Atlantic People Summary

The demography of the Atlantic peoples is a topic that is recorded but not as discussed or precisely reviewed as others. In his article, Infectious Disease and the Demography of the Atlantic Peoples, Alfred W. Crosby discusses the population of the Amerindians in relation to the arrival of the Europeans, and the slavery and disease that played key roles in both the European and Amerindian societies from 1492 and on. It also covers the idea of the drastic fluctuation in European and Amerindian population. In discussing these topics, a new perspective on the peoples of the Atlantic Basin will be provided. To begin with, demography is the study of the incidence of disease, death, and birth in relation to the human population. Crosby, who is fluent in both demography and epidemiology, speaks widely of the population of the Amerindians and how certain factors, including infectious disease, affected it. While many previously …show more content…
While disease was a primary cause of the decline in population, the exploitation of the natives was also a factor leading to many of their deaths. As Europeans traveled to the Americas, they brought with them diseases that they had already grown tolerant to. While the Europeans were tolerant, the Amerindians were susceptible to them, causing a large decrease in population due to a high mortality rate. The Europeans traveled to the Americas with the mindset of using the Amerindians as slaves. Though they thought this, they did not expect so many of them, as well as fellow Europeans, to die from an array of different diseases. The most common diseases transmitted or contracted include tuberculosis, leprosy, malaria, cholera, bubonic plague, typhus, smallpox, measles, diphtheria, influenza, poliomyelitis, schistosomiasis, leishmaniasis, yellow fever, and African sleeping sickness (trypanosomiasis) among many