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
Caeté people Caeté people The Caetés (Kaeté) were an indigenous people of Brazil, linguistically belonging to the Tupi people. The Tupi people were a large group of indigenous people who populated Brazil's coast, and they were among the first natives that the Portuguese encountered when they arrived at South America. The Tupi were divided into several tribes such as the: Tupiniquim, Tupinambá, Potiguara, Tabajara, Temiminó, Tamoios, and the Caeté. This tribe was estimated to contain approximately 300-2,000 people in the early 1500s, but their population eventually diminished greatly due to European diseases and slavery once the Portuguese began to settle in Brazil.