Joshua Howlett, Lois Lorenzo Holland Bonnett, Thomas Croom & Cooper Saint Robson

• BA (Hons) History/BA Combined Honours/BSc (Hons) Mathematics
• An interdisciplinary project on the study of the effects of disease and maltreatment on the American peoples after the arrival of Europeans to the Americas after 1492 running to the year 1800

Our project has been researching the effects of disease and the maltreatment of the Spanish on the indigenous communities of North America, Central America, and Southern America in the period between the years 1492 and 1800. Each member of the group was assigned a specific role and specific area based upon their discipline. We also looked at the impact of disease and the actions of the colonists on the societies and lives of the Indios as part of the project. Overall, we found that the American indigenous suffered a demographic collapse of cataclysmic proportions across the Americas as a result of disease in particular but also because of slavery, agricultural disruption and other causes also. Overall we feel as students beginning our third year of University we have learnt a great deal and the experience will be useful for our dissertation projects.

Supervisors: Dr Philip Garrett, Professor Alastair Bonnett & Dr. Andrew Baggaley

Funding Source: Newcastle University