Question

What happened to the native people of Latin America after being conquered by Spain and Portugal? (hint: they were exposed to something)

Answer 1

After the Portuguese and the Spanish conquered what is now known as Latin America, they started to settle in it. The settlement of more and more European people led to more and more contact with the indigenous people of Latin America.

The communication was going on well in some parts, very badly in others, but that was not that big of a problem for the indigenous people as it was something that the Europeans exposed them too, diseases. The diseases that the Europeans carried with them were not serious diseases by European standards because the body had developed proper immunity to them. That was not the case with the indigenous people though. The diseases brought by the Europeans were fatal for the indigenous people because their immune system was not familiar with them, thus it didn't had a defense mechanism for them. This led to a mass dying out of the indigenous people in Latin America.