Māori people peaceful tribes from their productive turangawaewae, such as the Moriori in the Chatham Islands by invading forces from North Taranaki, had a catastrophic effect on these conquered tribes. At the same time, the Māori suffered high mortality rates for new Eurasian infectious diseases, such as influenza, smallpox and measles, which killed an unknown number of Māori: estimates vary between ten and fifty percent. The spread of epidemics resulted largely from the Māori lacking acquired immunity to the new diseases. A huge influx of European settlers in the 1870s increased contact among many of the indigenous people with the newcomers. Te
Indigenous peoples of the Americas the stronger countries of the Americas. In Colombia, various indigenous groups have protested the denial of their rights. People organized a march in Cali in October 2008 to demand the government live up to promises to protect indigenous lands, defend the indigenous against violence, and reconsider the free trade pact with the United States. The first indigenous candidate to be democratically elected as head of a country in Latin America was Benito Juárez, a Zapotec Mexican; he was elected President of Mexico in 1858. Evo Morales (Aymara people) was the first indigenous candidate elected as president of Bolivia, in 2006,