The term “The Great Dying” should not be attributed to an evolutionary stage in the development of life before the first humans but should be considered within the framework of European colonization of North American territories.
Generally speaking, “The Great Dying” should be understood as a process of decline in the native populations of the regions of North and South America due to the expansion of European infectious diseases into these territories. The indigenous populations of Mexico alone were reduced by more than 92 percent during the sixteenth century.
The expansion of disease was a serious ecological disaster, as local native communities had no lasting immunity to the new diseases, and epidemics developed extremely quickly. As a consequence, indigenous populations declined autonomously, which was to the advantage of European colonizers. They did not have to face serious military resistance, so the conquest of native lands was more active.