II.

Early Population

It is estimated that at the time of the first European contact, North and South America were inhabited by more than 90 million people: about 10 million in America north of present-day Mexico; 30 million in Mexico; 11 million in Central America; 445,000 in the Caribbean islands; 30 million in the South American Andean region; and 9 million in the remainder of South America. These population figures are a rough estimate (some authorities cite much lower figures); exact figures are impossible to ascertain. By the time European colonists began keeping records, the Native American populations had already been drastically reduced by war, famine, forced labour, and epidemics of diseases introduced through contact with Europeans.