16-17世纪西葡殖民时期美洲天花大流行的特点及其影响

The Characteristics and Effects of Smallpox Pandemic in America during the Spanish-Portuguese Colonial Period between the 16th and 17th Century

16—17世纪,烈性传染病天花随着殖民者传入美洲大陆,给印第安人带来巨大的灾难,加速推进了欧洲殖民者对美洲的征服。“地理大发现”让美洲成为欧洲人主导的“大西洋时代”的重要组成部分,亦使天花的传播变得更加便利。天花在西葡属美洲的大流行与美洲的特定环境息息相关。天花病毒可以借助空间环境滋生和散播,亦可利用社会环境加快传播速度。从空间环境看,天花病毒在欧洲和美洲大陆的传播模式存在差异,在美洲传播的路线和变异加剧其破坏力;从社会环境看,传教活动、黑奴贸易和群落环境的人口密度和梯度增强其传染烈度。空间环境和社会环境的相互作用共同编织了天花在美洲大流行的传染链,天花在“新大陆”传播的历史也是环境、病毒和人类活动相互影响的历史。

In the 16th and 17th centuries,as a deadly infectious disease,smallpox was introduced into the American Continent by colonists and brought great disasters to Native American Indian tribes. It also became a contagious disease with the historical significance,accelerating the European colonists’ conquest of the Americas. The Great Geographical Discovery made the Americas become an important part of ‘the Atlantic Age’dominated by the Europeans,and facilitated the spread of smallpox. The smallpox pandemic in the Spanish and Portuguese America was closely related to the specific environment of the Americas. From the perspective of the space environment,the spread patterns of the virus were different in the New World and the European Continent. Moreover,the spread route and the mutation of the virus in the Americas exacerbated its destructive power. In the social context,the intensity of the virus infection became more serious because of the missionary activities,the slave trade,and the population density and gradients. Smallpox can breed and spread in the natural environment and it can also spread faster in the social environment. The interaction of the natural and social environment formed the chain of infection of smallpox pandemic in the Americas. Conclusively,the history of the spread of smallpox in the New World was also the history of the interaction among environment,virus and human being.