[Note: This is a slightly revised version of an article that appeared in the Marianas Variety in 2015. ]
The Mariana islands were depopulated largely due to ship-borne diseases rather than acts of violence, according to Fr. Francis Hezel in a Northern Marianas Humanities Council lecture on Saipan in 2015.
In his presentation titled “ The Founding of the Church in the Marianas: A Clash of Cultures,” Fr. Herzel said that more deaths were the result of diseases brought by Europeans to the islands than the ensuing violence of the Chamorro-Spanish Wars.
The census of 1720 revealed that the islands’ 40,000 population from the Pre-Contact Period was whittled down to 4,000. And all this was largely due to two crew members of the whale ship Delta who had contracted the smallpox disease while at sea before they dropped anchor on island.
Every time a ship would visit, an epidemic would break out, he added.
[In the case of the other Pacific islands, Fr. Hezel also wrote at length about the scourge of ships. He noted that small pox epidemic was the most devastating in Pohnpei in 1854 that after it had run its course, it had decimated the population by 40 percent.
But Fr. Hezel stated this epidemic was less virulent than what Guam had in 1856 that dramatically reduced the population by 60 percent. The disease ravaged Guam from February 1856 through November resulting in 5,534 deaths.
And there’s more.
He also said even before the smallpox outbreak, there was the flu outbreak brought by a British trader; from Pohnpei, he sailed to Yap, where he brought the scourge and claimed 50 lives in just three days.
Fr. Hezel also wrote that as if this were not enough, 20 years hence, the same trade returned to the islands and brought back the influenza epidemic that further depopulated Yap.
With the arrival of foreigners to the Pacific islands, they raised the mortality rate to the point that it had overwhelmingly exceeded birth rate.
Fr. Hezel noted in his scholarly article that Kosrae had a massive depopulation in the aftermath of these epidemics; its population dropped 90 percent in 50 years, from 3000 to 300.
Yap, he stated, lost half of its 10,000 population in about the same period.
The Marshalls lost 4,000 lives in under 30 years.
Yap and Chuuk, Fr. Hezel said, were not as severely impacted because they were not as desirable ports at the time for these foreign traders. ]
Reading the accounts from that period, Hezel said, “you get a notion of how ghastly the epidemics were.”
Even during the period of peace from 1698 to 1702, there were 600 deaths, he said, adding that there was a loss of 1,800 lives in five years alone.
“I think all you have to do is read the reports on what the diseases did.”
Looking back at the tumultuous years in Chamorro history, Hezel said even in the most violent year, there were probably a total of 80-90 people from both sides killed.
In 30 years, according to records, the Spanish lost 45 troops, six Jesuits were killed, and the Chamorros lost 45 people.
In 30 years, according to records, the Spanish lost 45 troops, six Jesuits were killed, and the Chamorros lost 45 people.
But Hezel said there were probably more Chamorro deaths.
“Judging from the detailed accounts, my guess is about 120 Chamorro lives were lost in battles in the 30 years. During the same period, 12 Jesuits and 26 mission helpers and a number of soldiers died.”
Hezel said the death count from the Spanish side averaged two to three a year compared to four Chamorros.
The significant depopulation in the Marianas, Hezel said, is comparable to that in Kosrae over a similar period of time.
He said the population in Kosrae went down from 3,000 to 300 in 42 years.
“There was no violence in Kosrae,” Hezel said, adding that the deaths were caused by what the Europeans passed on through contact to people who didn’t have the antibodies to prevent certain diseases.
Hezel’s presentation was made possible through support from the Northern Marianas Humanities Council and the Lay Ministry’s Program of the Diocese of Chalan Kanoa.
