Colonization and the Spread of Disease in the Americas

 
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“Matching Small Pox Suits for All Indian Families After U.S. Gov’t Sent Wagon Loads of Smallpox Infested Blankets to Keep Our Families Warm” (from the series Paper Dolls for a Post Columbian World), 1991, Jaune Quick-To-See Smith (American, French-Cree, born 1940), watercolor pencil over photocopy on paper, 17 x 11 in. (43.2 x 27.9 cm), Gift of Lucy R. Lippard, 1999, 1999.15.301.7. The New Mexico Art Museum Collection Image: The New Mexico Art Museum .

This Chapter on colonization has three subchapters to consider. One subchapter addresses colonization and the spread of disease in the Rio Grande Drainage area, another subchapter addresses the appeal to the Virgin of Guadalupe in relation to epidemics in Mexico, and a final subchapter looks more broadly across the Americas and the globe at the spread of disease related to colonization, including a consideration of museum collections related to that topic.