Elementary Inquiry
How did introduced diseases impact Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest? How did diseases shape the relationship between Native Americans and non-Native explorers and missionaries?
- Regions: Central Sound, Columbia Basin, North Central, North Sound, Northeast, Olympic Peninsula, South Central, South Sound, Southeast, Southwest
- Theme: British Colonization
- Topics: First Peoples, Tribal Lands, Treaties, and Reservations, Social and Cultural History, Political and Governmental History
Introduction
Long before permanent American settlement, the Pacific Northwest was a place of exploration, trade, and cultural exchange, but it was also a place deeply shaped by disease. Between 1774 and 1846, waves of foreign explorers, fur traders, and sailors brought unfamiliar diseases such as smallpox, malaria, and measles that had devastating impacts on Indigenous communities. This inquiry helps students understand how early contact affected Native populations, altered the balance of regional power, and shaped patterns of settlement.
Images
HistoryLink Articles
- Smallpox epidemic ravages Native Americans on the northwest coast of North America in the 1770s
- Elementary Level: Marcus and Narcissa Whitman — Missionaries of the Walla Walla Valley
- St. Anne’s Mission is established on Umatilla River on November 27, 1847
- Smallpox kills 14,000 Northwest Coast Indians from April to December 1862
- Smallpox Epidemic of 1862 among Northwest Coast and Puget Sound Indians
- Cayuse Indians
- Elementary Level: Makah Whaling
Maps
