1780: Smallpox epidemics strike Mexico and the Great Plains
For two years, smallpox spreads from Mexico north and throughout the Great Plains, killing many members of Ojibwe bands, the Shoshone, Siksika (Blackfeet), Kanai (Blood), Peigan, Cree, Assiniboine, and A’aninin (Gros Ventre).
- Theme
- Epidemics
- Region
- Great Basin, Great Plains, Northwest Coast, Plateau, Southwest
Shoshone Indians gathered around tipis, ca. 1880–1910. Some Native Americans survived the smallpox epidemics, as evidenced by this photograph of a group of Shoshone Indians several generations later.
Courtesy Library of Congress