The American Genocide of the Indians—Historical Facts and Real Evidence

[Meathead]

You got your balls handed to you as you do so often here. Remember that you can be fact checked anytime.

How many indigenous peoples in the Americas died between 1492-1700 because of white colonialism and European diseases?

I have seen estimates as high as 90 million.,

The death toll was staggering. Between 1492 and 1700, it's estimated that up to 90% of the Indigenous population in the Americas perished due to a combination of European diseases, colonial violence, enslavement, and ecological disruption.

Estimated Numbers

• Pre-contact population: ~60 million across North, Central, and South America
• By 1600: ~6 million remained
• That’s a loss of about 55 million lives—a demographic collapse so massive it’s been called “The Great Dyin

Primary Causes

• Diseases: Smallpox, measles, influenza, typhus, and others swept through communities with no prior immunity
• Virgin soil epidemics: These were outbreaks in populations with no previous exposure, often killing 25–50% in a single wave
• Colonial violence: Warfare, forced labor, and displacement compounded the devastation

Global Impact

• The depopulation led to reforestation of abandoned farmland, which absorbed carbon and may have contributed to a global cooling event known as the Little Ice Age

This wasn’t just a tragic loss of life—it was a cultural and ecological upheaval that reshaped the entire hemisphere. If you’d like, I can walk you through how different regions were affected or how Indigenous societies adapted in the aftermath.

www.sciencealert.com
brewminate.com
www.science.smith.edu

At least you admit to being full of shit. That's a start. However, I doubt it'll stop your annoying whining.

 

[John Edgar Slow Horses]

At least you admit to being full of shit. That's a start. However, I doubt it'll stop your annoying whining.

You got fact checked and corrected. Always the story of your life.

 

[longly]

BS. There were not 90 million Indian people in all the Americas at any time.

You're so full of shit.

Most scholars estimate that North America had between 2.5 million and 20 million Indigenous inhabitants before 1492.

 

[John Edgar Slow Horses]

Scholar/Source	Estimated Population (U.S. & Canada)
Alfred Kroeber (1939)	~900,000
Henry Dobyns (1966)	9.8–12.25 million
William Denevan (1992)	~3.8 million
Russell Thornton (2005)	~7 million
Milner (2010)	~3.8 million
Ubelaker (1988)	1.2–2.6 million

These numbers reflect different methodologies—some based on archaeological data, others on extrapolations from colonial records or depopulation ratios after European contact.
Why the Range Is So Broad

• Lack of census records: Indigenous societies didn’t use written population counts
• Disease impact: Scholars debate how much pre-contact populations were already declining due to earlier epidemics
• Bias in early anthropology: Some low estimates were influenced by colonial narratives that downplayed Indigenous complexity

So while there’s no single definitive number, the consensus today leans toward 5–10 million in what is now the U.S. and Canada before European arrival.

 

[John Edgar Slow Horses]

No matter what number you accept, it was a whole lot of people.

 

[AZrailwhale]

No, that had nothing to do with hygiene.

That is known as "Virgin Soil Epidemic". Where a group that had never been exposed to a disease in the past will have no natural immunities to it. Causing it to spread faster, farther, and is far more likely to be fatal.

While the Black Death killed around 60% of Europeans, that percentage dropped sharply the closer one went towards China where it originated. This can even be seen today, when on rare occasion tribes in Central and South America are contacted. And even with modern hygiene and medicine even the common cold is fatal.

And why it is forbidden to contact the natives on North Sentinel Island.

The fact is, the diseases did kill around 60-75% of the Indians in the Americas. And the vast majority of them never laid eyes on a "white man". They simply had no immunities, because nomadic tribal groups that have low population densities are rarely exposed to such diseases.

And because the Americas were cut off from the rest of the world for so long, there were also very few diseases that humans could catch from the environment. North and South America were cut off for so long that there was almost nothing that could infect any apes, let alone hominids.

And most of those that are in the Americas now like Yellow Fever, Plague, Malaria, Dysentery, and all the others? They did not originate in the Americas. They were unknown there before those diseases were introduced by Europeans or their livestock.

Examples of Virgin FIELD epidemics are the 1918 Influenza epidemic which killed at least FORTY MILLION PEOPLE worldwide and Covid. That is the level of lethality the Native Americans faced from European diseases, the Europeans suffered less from American diseases because they had been exposed to similar diseases for hundreds or thousands of years due to trade with Asia and Africa.

 

[Meathead]

Examples of Virgin FIELD epidemics are the 1918 Influenza epidemic which killed at least FORTY MILLION PEOPLE worldwide and Covid. That is the level of lethality the Native Americans faced from European diseases, the Europeans suffered less from American diseases because they had been exposed to similar diseases for hundreds or thousands of years due to trade with Asia and Africa.

Except syphilis.

 

[AZrailwhale]

Except syphilis.

Correct which became epidemic in Europe and Asia. It was a major problem until Penicillin was invented.

 

[John Edgar Slow Horses]

Very few give a rat's ass.

Very few give a rat's ass about type of thinking on this issue.

 

[John Edgar Slow Horses]

Correct which became epidemic in Europe and Asia. It was a major problem until Penicillin was invented.

It's a major part of Russia's substandard genetic defect in intelligence.

 

[Mushroom]

BS. There were not 90 million Indian people in all the Americas at any time.

You're so full of shit.

While JESH is normally full of crap, in that he is correct. The population of "America" was around 60 million. But the population of "the Americas" was anywhere from 90-116 million.

Of course, trying to give a good estimate is really hard, as this was Chalcolithic cultures. Kinda like estimating the population of Europe in 6500 BCE. But we know the populations were high, with Cahokia having up to 40,000 people before the collapse, and that was just one city. The Aztecs numbered over 6 million, not counting their client tribes. The Incans were around 12 million, once again not counting all their client tribes.

To put it in perspective, is it hard to imagine the total population of two continents being roughly equal to that of Africa in 1900? Because we are talking about two continents here, with some cultures, civilizations and confederacies being quite large.

 

[John Edgar Slow Horses]

I am normally right most of the time, so Mushroom has that part wrong about me being wrong.

But, to this thread, Meathead is woefully off. He's wrong. And he knows he is lying.

 

[Mushroom]

Stop you're annoying whining and learn something: Pre-colonization populations of the Americas ~1492| Statista

And as must be noted immediately, that is long obsolete data.

Did you even notice when that was made?

Release date
1983

1983. There has been a hell of a lot of discoveries made since then.

I still remember that era, the general belief was that Cahokia was a ceremonial location. You see, this is the failure made by cherry picking a single source. One that by the way is over four decades old.

 

[John Edgar Slow Horses]

Mushroom slam dunks over Meathead.

 

[Mushroom]

Most scholars estimate that North America had between 2.5 million and 20 million Indigenous inhabitants before 1492.

Most scholars estimate that the main Aztec nation population was around 12 million. Not counting client tribes.

You are really stuck in the past, and ignoring decades of research since those very outdated estimates.

Estimating Populations of the Americas pre-1492

Dispossessions in the Americas

dia.upenn.edu

 

[Mushroom]

Except syphilis.

Which is interesting. That was a largely benign skin disease in the Americas for thousands of years at least. But when the disease came up against the stronger European antibodies, it mutated and became much stronger.

But it is still not a particularly fatal disease, and rather difficult to catch, unlike Bubonic Plague.

 

[Meathead]

And as must be noted immediately, that is long obsolete data.

Did you even notice when that was made?



1983. There has been a hell of a lot of discoveries made since then.

I still remember that era, the general belief was that Cahokia was a ceremonial location. You see, this is the failure made by cherry picking a single source. One that by the way is over four decades old.

OFFS, There were not 90 million people in the Americas before Columbus. They were also concentrated in what is today Mexico and Peru. North of Mexico there were probably about 2 to 3 million.

Don't know where that birdbrain came up with the genocide of 90 million. Some people are just misinformed or idiots or both.

 

[Mushroom]

OFFS, There were not 90 million people in the Americas before Columbus. They were also concentrated in what is today Mexico and Peru. North of Mexico there were probably about 2 to 3 million.

Don't know where that birdbrain came up with the genocide of 90 million. Some people are just misinformed or idiots.

Oh, there was no "genocide" to begin with. Even saying that is as stupid as trying to blame China for the deaths of 30 million people in Europe to the Black Death.

But 2 to 3 million in all of what is today the US and Canada? You are unquestionably delusional. There were more than that just in the Mississippi River area. And there were far more than that in the northern tribes.

https://etda.libraries.psu.edu/files/final_submissions/1734

 

[Meathead]

Oh, there was no "genocide" to begin with. Even saying that is as stupid as trying to blame China for the deaths of 30 million people in Europe to the Black Death.

But 2 to 3 million in all of what is today the US and Canada? You are unquestionably delusional. There were more than that just in the Mississippi River area. And there were far more than that in the northern tribes.

https://etda.libraries.psu.edu/files/final_submissions/1734

Bullshit

 

[John Edgar Slow Horses]

OFFS, There were not 90 million people in the Americas before Columbus. They were also concentrated in what is today Mexico and Peru. North of Mexico there were probably about 2 to 3 million.

Don't know where that birdbrain came up with the genocide of 90 million. Some people are just misinformed or idiots or both.

Meathead has no handle on the data, at all.