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An illustration of a doctor tending to a patient covered in smallpox. An additional four patients are laid in bed, covered with a blanket.
<p>Illustrations from the Florentine Codex depicting smallpox outbreaks in the 16th century.</p>

Colonization brings radically different diseases to Turtle Island.

1492-1600

The Story of Tuberculosis
COL
INDG
EPD
BIOW
ENV
MED
<p>Illustrations from the Florentine Codex depicting smallpox outbreaks in the 16th century.</p>

Indigenous people lack the genetic resistance and suffer overwhelming mortality when exposed to smallpox, measles, tuberculosis, and other diseases. In addition to a lack of resistance, colonizer destruction of the environment and systems of social and cultural care create communities more vulnerable to infection. The disease environment is also hostile to European settler-colonists, especially in the Southern colonies. Malaria is endemic in the South, with very high mortality rates for new arrivals.