Summary
The 1840s saw a number of epidemics spread through the Canadian Plains. In 1841, mumps broke out but was largely contained to the region around the Hudson Bay. Influenza outbreaks hit in 1835, 1837, 1843, 1845, 1846, 1847, and 1850. These outbreaks appear relatively mild in regards to mortality rates but that may be because scarlet fever, whooping cough, and dysentery were all present during this period and fatalities may be credited to these other illnesses. 1846 was one of the most devastating year for the Red River colony as they experienced measles, influenza, and dysentery.
Implications
Following the smallpox epidemic of 1837-38, many of the Plains tribes were already in a vulnerable state. The epidemics that swept through the region in the 1840s were smaller in nature than the 1837-38 smallpox outbreak, but there was many more localized outbreaks, often with multiple illnesses. With the establishment of the territory of Oregon in 1848 and the discovery of gold by the end of the decade, Saskatchewan experienced a intensifying of interactions between Europeans and the local Indigenous populations led to almost yearly epidemics of one sort or another. Increasing cases of disease and sickness, along with a rapidly declining bison population all caused by settler presence would drastically effect Indigenous populations across the Plains. Due to increasing cases of disease and famine, with encroaching eastern settlement towards the west, many Indigenous groups would be pressured into negotiating treaties and land settlements with the Canadian Government in an attempt to address the disparities caused by colonization.
Resources
Date
1835-00-00