The Incas
Smallpox left a trail of death in the Incan empire starting in 1527, when the ruler Huayna Capac died from smallpox. That made Capac's son Niman Cuyoche the rightful heir, but he died from smallpox shortly after his father's death. Soon, inheritance complications led to a five-year civil war. By this time, hundreds of thousands of Incans had died, changing the once-powerful empire into weak prey for Pizarro in 1532.
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"Hearing of the riches of the Inca empire far to the south, the Spaniards decided on further expeditions. Before these could be mounted, smallpox reached the land of the Incas in about 1524-1 527, killing some 200 000 of the 6 million inhabitants. Just as important as this widespread devastation, from the point of view of the subsequent Spanish conquest, was the fact that the Inca emperor and his designated heir also died of smallpox, and a disastrous civil war broke out for the succession. These events so weakened the Incas that Pizarro and his small band entered Cuzco in triumph in 1533, to be followed by further epidemics of smallpox."
- Dr. Frank Fenner et al; Smallpox and its Eradication |