Population history of indigenous peoples of the Americas scope of the epidemics over the years was tremendous, killing millions of people—possibly in excess of 90% of the population in the hardest hit areas—and creating one of "the greatest human catastrophe in history, far exceeding even the disaster of the Black Death of medieval Europe", which had killed up to one-third of the people in Europe and Asia between 1347 and 1351. One of the most devastating diseases was smallpox, but other deadly diseases included typhus, measles, influenza, bubonic plague, cholera, malaria, tuberculosis, mumps, yellow fever and pertussis, which were chronic in Eurasia. This transfer of disease between the
A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies been accused by many scholars about making exaggerated claims in terms of the death toll and mistreatment of the indigenous people. Today, it is known that Old World diseases and the lack of immunity caused a large number of indigenous deaths. The reason why De Las Casas did not mention the number of indigenous deaths caused by old world diseases is not a political one. During the 1400s, people did not know what caused disease or how it spread. The discovery of germs wasn't until the 1500s, and their association with diseases was not even accepted by the medical profession