Plague Era Epidemic Devastated Patuxet

European contact unintentionally brought smallpox, bubonic plague, measles, mumps, chickenpox, influenza, cholera, diphtheria, typhus, malaria, leprosy, and yellow fever to the Americas. Many of the indigenous societies had never before been exposed to these diseases, and were extremely vulnerable to epidemics that together killed millions. Prior to the Pilgrims’ arrival in 1620, an unnamed epidemic devastated Wampanoag communities from 1616 to 1619. It also left the former village of Patuxet cleared and with existing cornfields that the new settlers used to establish Plymouth Colony.

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