Chilean Mummies Yield First Genetic Proof Europeans Brought Smallpox to Americas
Genetic analysis linked the mummies’ virus to an extinct lineage between medieval European strains and later variants, strengthening evidence that colonizers brought smallpox to the Americas.
- Researchers at Trinity College Dublin identified the oldest viral smallpox DNA in the Americas from two Chilean mummies, providing the first direct molecular evidence of the pathogen in the region.
- Smallpox decimated Indigenous populations after European colonizers arrived in the Americas during the late 15th century, with the mummies dated to between 1492 and 1631.
- Molecular analysis indicates the strains existed in a now-extinct variola virus lineage bridging Old World European variants and later types, with genetic deceleration during colonial expansion.
- This discovery provides the first molecular confirmation that smallpox was carried to the Americas during the colonial period, proving Europe directly introduced the virus to Indigenous populations.
- Evidence helps clarify how the virus reached remote regions, as written records for Chile begin significantly later than the colonial era, filling a critical historical gap.
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79 Articles
New DNA analyses of mummies from Chile provide the strongest evidence to date that smallpox only came to America with Europeans. The discovery could clarify a long-discussed chapter in colonial history.
The smallpox virus and other diseases of Europeans decimated the indigenous peoples of the Americas. The virus was first detected in dead people from the colonial period. The post How did the smallpox curse reach the New World? The mummies of Chile remember appeared first on in.gr.
History and biology shake hands in a study that reconstructs the smallpox virus journey across the ocean and time
After the discovery of the Americas, smallpox are taking millions of indigenous people on the continent. An international research team now confirms a long-held suspicion: the European settlers brought them from their homeland.
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