An archaeological sketch of the representation of disease as a vector of Amerindian extinction
If the Amerindian genocide is proven, its precise causes remain subject to discussion, as does the degree of intentionality behind it. According to a common vision shared by many historians and demographers, the vast majority of Amerindians disappeared during the first centuries of colonization under the effect of a “viral clash”, because of their vulnerability to pathogens from Europe or Africa. So where does this idea about the vulnerability of Native Americans to “white people’s diseases” and “viral clash” come from, and is it well founded? This article proposes a few avenues of research for an archaeology of the representation of disease as the main reason for the disappearance of the Amerindians. In the opening of the subject, a Caribbean version first brings to light another side of the story, namely that of the reaction of the Amerindian collectives on the island of Curaçao to epidemics, using medicinal plants. This unconventional perspective invites us to take a closer look at the chronology of the epidemics as recounted in the writings and chronicles of the first conquistadors, and then to question the existence of a pandemic on a continental scale during the first centuries of colonization. At the same time, the article compares the impact of the brutal change in lifestyle, slavery, and the destruction of health systems, particularly through the prohibition of medicinal plants and acts of biological attacks, on the development of epidemics. The article ends by proposing that after having served to construct a political-ethical discourse on the disappearance of the Amerindians, these arguments of vulnerability and viral clash, the main supports for a reading of the history of the disappearance of the Amerindians according to the angle of the disease, nourished the eugenicist cause before entering into the common sense via a misinterpretation of the Malthusian and Darwinian theses.