Genetic Evidence for Native American Population Decline

It has long been known that European contact had devastating consequences for the native population of the Americas. While warfare and the harsh conditions of forced labor took a heavy toll, by far the biggest killer was disease. Many of the diseases that were common among Eurasians came from domesticated animals that never existed in pre-Columbian America, and so the native population had no resistance to them whatsoever.

Many historical records document the massive die off. Now a new genetic study has confirmed that nearly 50% of the original native population died in a very brief time following European contact.