The ENTIRE History of Smallpox in 20 Minutes

Smallpox killed around 300 million people in the twentieth century alone. Then it was eradicated. This documentary tells how one virus brought down empires — and how ordinary people wiped it off the face of the Earth. The ENTIRE History of Smallpox, from the mummy of Ramesses V and Viking graves to the last case in Somalia. This smallpox documentary covers what smallpox does to the body, the arrival of smallpox in the Americas in 1520, Cempoala and Tenochtitlan, the Florentine Codex, Cuitlahuac, Huayna Capac and the Inca civil war, Fort Pitt, kings and queens killed by smallpox, variolation in China, India and Africa, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, Onesimus and the Boston epidemic of 1721, George Washington's inoculation order, Edward Jenner, the milkmaid Sarah Nelmes and the cow Blossom, the first vaccine, the Balmis expedition, the 1947 New York outbreak, the WHO eradication programme, ring vaccination and the bifurcated needle, Rahima Banu, Ali Maow Maalin, Janet Parker and the eradication of 1980. Did a pharaoh really die of smallpox? Why did the cure need a cow? Who was the last person to catch smallpox? Subscribe to Painted Past for more stories of the diseases that shaped history. CHAPTERS 0:00 The scar on your grandmother's arm 2:37 The questions 3:05 Where it came from 4:50 What it does to you 6:14 1520: smallpox reaches the Americas 10:14 Kings and children 11:13 The old trick 13:55 The milkmaid and the cow 16:02 The last hunt 18:39 The last death 19:33 Back to the scar SOURCES Donald R. Hopkins, "The Greatest Killer: Smallpox in History" (2002) Frank Fenner et al., "Smallpox and its Eradication" (WHO, 1988) D. A. Henderson, "Smallpox: The Death of a Disease" (2009) Elizabeth A. Fenn, "Pox Americana" (2001) Edward Jenner, "An Inquiry into the Causes and Effects of the Variolae Vaccinae" (1798) Mühlemann et al., Science (2020), Viking Age variola genomes ARCHIVE IMAGES AND FOOTAGE (public domain / CC0, Wikimedia Commons) 0:36 Map of Tenochtitlan, Nuremberg, 1524 3:13 Mummy of Ramesses V, photo by G. Elliot Smith, 1912 4:01 Smallpox virus, electron microscope, 1975 (CDC) 5:09, 16:35, 16:45, 17:22, 17:36 US Army film "Smallpox", Pakistan, 1960s (National Library of Medicine) 6:14 Lienzo de Tlaxcala, 16th century 6:55, 7:02 Florentine Codex, Book XII, Bernardino de Sahagún, 1577 7:35 The Conquest of Tenochtitlan, Mexican painting, 17th century 8:03 Huayna Capac, Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala, c. 1615 9:18 Mandan O-kee-pa ceremony, George Catlin, 1832 10:20 Stuart monarchs incl. Queen Mary II, after Godfrey Kneller 10:25 Louis XV, Jean Daullé after Rigaud, 1737 10:38 The Kangxi Emperor in court dress, Qing court painter 11:57 Lady Mary Wortley Montagu with her son, Jean-Baptiste Vanmour, c. 1717 12:37 A south-east view of Boston, William Burgis, 1725 12:41 Cotton Mather, Peter Pelham, 1728 13:29 George Washington, Charles Willson Peale, 1776 14:09 Edward Jenner, William Ridley, 1804 14:52 "The Cow-Pock", James Gillray, 1802 16:51 Smallpox vaccine and bifurcated needle, James Gathany (CDC), 2002 17:00 Smallpox vaccination in Niger, 1969, J. D. Millar (CDC) 17:42 Rahima Banu, Bangladesh, 1975, Stanley O. Foster (CDC/WHO) Original illustrations are artistic reconstructions created with AI tools; archive images are real historical works in the public domain; narration uses a synthetic voice. #Smallpox #History #HistoryDocumentary #Vaccine #MedicalHistory