How much of the Aztec population was affected by smallpox?

He got it in the form of a smallpox epidemic that gradually spread inward from the coast of Mexico and decimated the densely populated city of Tenochtitlan in 1520, reducing its population by 40 percent in a single year.

What percentage of Aztecs died to smallpox?

Although the exact numbers will never be known for certain it is estimated that smallpox killed between 40 and 50 million of the native population of the New World. Some estimates are even higher and state that as many as 90% of the population died.

How many Aztecs died to disease?

Within five years as many as 15 million people – an estimated 80% of the population – were wiped out in an epidemic the locals named “cocoliztli”. The word means pestilence in the Aztec Nahuatl language.

How did the introduction of smallpox contribute to the demise of Aztec society?

Disease. The Aztec had no immunity to European diseases. Smallpox spread among the indigenous people and crippled their ability to resist the Spanish. The disease devastated the Aztec people, greatly reducing their population and killing an estimated half of Tenochtitlán’s inhabitants.

How many Mexicans died from smallpox?

The native people of Mexico experienced an epidemic disease in the wake of European conquest (Figure 1), beginning with the smallpox epidemic of 1519 to 1520 when 5 million to 8 million people perished.

When did smallpox hit the Aztecs?

The introduction of smallpox among the Aztecs has been attributed to an African slave (by the name of Francisco Eguía, according to one account) but this has been disputed. From May to September, smallpox spread slowly to Tepeaca and Tlaxcala, and to Tenochtitlán by the fall of 1520.

What killed 15 million Aztecs?

Salmonella could be partially to blame for a 16th century epidemic that killed millions. From 1545 to 1550, Aztecs in what is today southern Mexico experienced a deadly outbreak. Anywhere from five to 15 million people died.

Do Aztecs still exist today?

Today the descendants of the Aztecs are referred to as the Nahua. More than one-and-a-half million Nahua live in small communities dotted across large areas of rural Mexico, earning a living as farmers and sometimes selling craft work.

What killed off the Aztecs?

Smallpox wiped out 5-8 million Aztecs shortly after the Spanish arrived in Mexico in 1519. But a different disease entirely is now suspected to have killed 15 million Aztecs, ending their society.