Timeline / Colonizers and Resistance / AD 1531–33: Mesoamericans succumb to deadly measles epidemic
Maya, Toltec, Quechua, and many other peoples in Mesoamerica die in great numbers from measles wherever they encounter Europeans. Spaniards report that the measles epidemic spreads north, reaching from southern Mexico to the state of Sonora in the north.
- Theme
- Epidemics
- Region
- Southwest
See Also
Recipes
Image of a Mesoamerican infected with smallpox. Illustrated panel from the Florentine Codex, a compendium of information on Aztec people and history by Bernardino de Sahagún, a 16th-century Spanish Franciscan missionary.
Courtesy Granger Collection, New York
