Spanish Florida: peoples, expeditions, and the effects of struggles and epidemics in the XVI and early XVII centuries

Abstract

In our research work, we considered the expeditions of Ponce de Leon, Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón, Narváez and Hernando de Soto that took place in Spanish Florida in the XVI century, as well as the situation with the Catholic missions of the Spaniards in the late XVI and early XVII centuries. We have examined evidence of the origin and consequences of various epidemics that arose with the arrival of Europeans and their penetration into the interior of America and the expansion of the borders of Spanish Florida. The conclusions that follow from the article suggest that the peoples isolated from the external penetration of Europeans were able to avoid the terrible pandemics and severe consequences of epidemics. Those peoples who had direct contact with and took an active part in the life of the Europeans and their settlements suffered greatly from the rapid extinction. We would also like to show that not only the Europeans but also the aborigines themselves, had enough diseases that periodically killed the population and caused epidemics within the aboriginal society. We would like to see further interdisciplinary research help to restore important points about the disappearance of American peoples and map the migration of indigenous tribes as a result of pandemics and epidemics.