Epidemics of diseases which came with the Spaniards, such as smallpox and measles, wiped out a large portion of the indigenous population. Historians cannot determine the number of natives who died due to European diseases, but some put the figures as high as 85% and as low as 25%. Due to the lack of written records, specific numbers are hard to verify. Many of the survivors were forced to work in European plantations and mines until indigenous slavery was outlawed with the New Laws of 1542. Unlike in English colonies, Intermixing between the indigenous peoples and Iberian colonists was very common and, by the end of the colonial period, people of mixed ancestry (mestizos) formed majorities in several colonies.