4 ms·

Wouldnt some of this disease, if not all of it, be due to their introduction to european americans and in some cases, early versions of biological warfare like

by pempem 4y ago

Wouldnt some of this disease, if not all of it, be due to their introduction to european americans and in some cases, early versions of biological warfare like smallpox blankets?

labster 4y ago
Yes, though the diseases traveled much faster than the Europeans did, as Americans had their own trade routes. A whole century could have passed between Columbus’s first voyage and European contact with a tribe, but they would have been decimated centuries before contact. That’s plenty of time for forests to reclaim farmland.
- mickdeek86 4y ago
  This reminds me of Francisco de Orellana, the first European to navigate the Amazon. He returned to Spain with tales of a grand, prosperous civilization along the banks, saying that in weeks of sailing they didn't find a single stretch of shoreline unsettled, and that the people and the region were richer than any in all of Europe. Decades passed before there was another expedition, which found mostly rainforest and hunter-gatherers in a much regressed ("primitive") state, leading people to believe he was full of it. Now that the Amazon is being deforested to cultivate fodder for livestock, we are finding the remains of this indeed grand civilization, which Orellano probably destroyed by crop-dusting virulent disease throughout the interior of the continent.
  - emmelaich 4y ago
    Even more poignantly for Squanto, he returned to find his tribe decimated. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squanto https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squanto
BurningFrog 4y ago
Typically, infections traveled faster than Europeans, and most natives died before ever seeing one. Neither side really understood what was happening. The smallpox blanket warfare has very little historical evidence. It's also a far fetched thing to do centuries before germ theory.

4 ms·

Wouldnt some of this disease, if not all of it, be due to their introduction to european americans and in some cases, early versions of biological warfare like

by pempem 4y ago

Wouldnt some of this disease, if not all of it, be due to their introduction to european americans and in some cases, early versions of biological warfare like smallpox blankets?

labster 4y ago
Yes, though the diseases traveled much faster than the Europeans did, as Americans had their own trade routes. A whole century could have passed between Columbus’s first voyage and European contact with a tribe, but they would have been decimated centuries before contact. That’s plenty of time for forests to reclaim farmland.
- mickdeek86 4y ago
  This reminds me of Francisco de Orellana, the first European to navigate the Amazon. He returned to Spain with tales of a grand, prosperous civilization along the banks, saying that in weeks of sailing they didn't find a single stretch of shoreline unsettled, and that the people and the region were richer than any in all of Europe. Decades passed before there was another expedition, which found mostly rainforest and hunter-gatherers in a much regressed ("primitive") state, leading people to believe he was full of it. Now that the Amazon is being deforested to cultivate fodder for livestock, we are finding the remains of this indeed grand civilization, which Orellano probably destroyed by crop-dusting virulent disease throughout the interior of the continent.
  - emmelaich 4y ago
    Even more poignantly for Squanto, he returned to find his tribe decimated. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squanto https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squanto
BurningFrog 4y ago
Typically, infections traveled faster than Europeans, and most natives died before ever seeing one. Neither side really understood what was happening. The smallpox blanket warfare has very little historical evidence. It's also a far fetched thing to do centuries before germ theory.