The arrival of Europeans in the Americas resulted in what was perhaps the greatest demographic collapse in history. In 1492 the native population is estimated to have been between fifty and sixty million; by the mid-seventeenth century it had fallen to between five and six million. Subsequently, it recovered slowly. But even today the indigenous population is only about half of its pre-Columbian size. However, not all groups declined equally or have shared in the recovery; many have become extinct, and others have been transformed through cultural change and racial mixing. For many Indians, biological survival has been achieved at the expense of cultural change.

The decline in the native population and the expansion of other social groups was a consequence of the introduction of Old World diseases and the arrival of immigrants who set in motion economic, social, and political changes that fundamentally altered the character and distribution of the population. According to Alexander von Humboldt, by the beginning of the nineteenth century Indians accounted for only about 37 percent of Latin America’s total population of twenty-one million, whereas the mixed races accounted for about 30 percent. However, these overall proportions varied widely according to the extent of the native population’s decline, the intensity of Iberian and African immigration, and the types of institutions and enterprises used to control, “civilize,” and exploit native peoples. These interactive processes reflected not only colonial objectives, but also the nature of the societies that Europeans encountered. Demographic trends were a barometer of economic and social change as well as a formative influence upon it. The relationship was reciprocal and complex.