Summary
This epidemic was a combination of measles and whooping cough ranging from the Red River to the Rockies and from the Upper Missouri to Great Slave Lake. Due to similar symptoms and a lack of primary accounts it is difficult to distinguish between the two illnesses. Estimates put the mortality rate between 40 and 65 percent among the Plains Indigenous groups. Fur producers in the northern boreal forest were hit hard by disease in 1819-20.
Implications
Like most epidemics with significant mortality rates, the devastation among Indigenous groups caused a shift in the demographic landscape of the Plains people and was accompanied by famine. A temporary truce was called among the Niitsitapi (Blackfoot), Cree, and Assiniboine because of the spike in mortality. Rumours alleging that the HBC had intentionally caused the infection among the people at Lac la Biche and Lesser Slave Lake caused tensions to be higher between the Plains people and European settlers. As a result of these high mortality rates, Indigenous groups saw a change in their culture. Diminishing numbers meant there were less individuals to carry on the traditions of their people, and many cultural practices and norms began to disappear. The loss of community members to disease meant that communities were left in a position where it became harder to resist European influence because they had less people to unite to remain steadfast in their opposition to European culture and practices.
Resources
Date
1819-00-00
Theme(s)