Globalization and disease Spanish soldiers introduced smallpox by contact with natives of the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan. A devastating epidemic broke out among the indigenous people, killing thousands. In 1617, smallpox reached Massachusetts, probably brought by earlier explorers to Nova Scotia, Canada.” By 1638 the disease had broken out among people in Boston, Massachusetts. In 1721 people fled the city after an outbreak, but the residents spread the disease to others throughout the thirteen colonies. Smallpox broke out in six separate epidemics in the United States through 1968. The smallpox vaccine was developed in 1798 by Edward Jenner. By 1979 the disease had been
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,