The Columbian Exchange

In 1492, there were 60,000,000 people living in the Americas, which was roughly the same size as the population in Europe and in China. Within a hundred years of first contact with Europeans, fifty five million out of those sixty million were dead.

Source: In Our Time, The Columbian Exchange. Found in Mathematics as a new Age of Discovery (and what they might find), Interconnected.

My own summary after looking into it: infectious diseases such as smallpox and measles were the main cause, with war and enslavement as additional factors.

1492 年，美洲生活着 6000 万人，大致与当时欧洲和中国的人口规模相当。在与欧洲人首次接触后的一百年内，这六千万人中有五千五百万人死去。

来源：《In Our Time》，“The Columbian Exchange”一期。引自 Interconnected 的文章 Mathematics as a new Age of Discovery (and what they might find)。

我调查之后的总结：天花、麻疹等传染病是主因，另外还有战争和奴役的因素。