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Many South Americans seem to have died, unfortunately, from diseases. "Today we think of the Amazon as a pristine rainforest, sparsely populated by indigenous

Many South Americans seem to have died, unfortunately, from diseases. "Today we think of the Amazon as a pristine rainforest, sparsely populated by indigenous communities. But in records from the 1500s, Spanish colonizers describe a densely populated region, crisscrossed by canals and sunken roads and dotted with bustling, fortified towns. Unfortunately, fortification couldn’t protect the towns’ inhabitants against European diseases, which devastated South American indigenous populations and left the fortified villages abandoned." https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/03/network-of-fortified-towns-indicates-amazon-was-once-heavily-populated/ https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/03/network-of-fortified... "Some 5 million people may have lived in the Amazon region in AD 1500, divided between dense coastal settlements, such as that at Marajó, and inland dwellers. By 1900, the population had fallen to 1 million and by the early 1980s it was less than 200,000."

stavros 3y ago
Interesting how introducing new pathogens works. Does anyone know why the opposite didn't happen? Why didn't the European colonizers die to American diseases?
- voldacar 3y ago
  Syphilis may have originated in the Americas.
- x3n0ph3n3 3y ago
  Many of the most deadly pathogens to indigenous Americans were born from livestock or frequent cross-exposure between different populations spanning Europe and Asia. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_American_disease_and_epidemics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_American_disease_and_ep...
- iteria 3y ago
  The Europeans had endured some of the most devastating diseases that arose do to them choosing to live in close quarters with animals. The Americans just didn't have this habit. A lot of terrible diseases come from something that jumped species.
- inglor_cz 3y ago
  The Old World was a much larger "disease production lab", especially zoonotic one, where a disease jumps from an animal to a human. This transmission happens especially often between domesticated animals and people who are in everyday contact with them. The New World people only domesticated a handful of animals, such as the guinea pig and the llama. So, fewer opportunities to catch something from them. Still, they had a new disease that spread to the Old World: syphilis, which certainly killed several million Old-Worlders, only it took longer to run its course and could be prevented by, well, chastity. An interesting idea: if you count victims of smoking towards the total death toll (tobacco is a New World plant), it may well be that the Old World suffered more deaths from the Columbian Exchange. But spread over a much larger population and a much longer time, these deaths didn't amount to destruction of entire civilizations.
coldtea 3y ago
>Many South Americans seem to have died, unfortunately, from diseases And a huge number from forced labour, executions, and torture, well described by the colonizers themselves.

stavros 3y ago

Interesting how introducing new pathogens works. Does anyone know why the opposite didn't happen? Why didn't the European colonizers die to American diseases?

voldacar 3y ago
Syphilis may have originated in the Americas.
x3n0ph3n3 3y ago
Many of the most deadly pathogens to indigenous Americans were born from livestock or frequent cross-exposure between different populations spanning Europe and Asia. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_American_disease_and_epidemics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_American_disease_and_ep...
iteria 3y ago
The Europeans had endured some of the most devastating diseases that arose do to them choosing to live in close quarters with animals. The Americans just didn't have this habit. A lot of terrible diseases come from something that jumped species.
inglor_cz 3y ago
The Old World was a much larger "disease production lab", especially zoonotic one, where a disease jumps from an animal to a human. This transmission happens especially often between domesticated animals and people who are in everyday contact with them. The New World people only domesticated a handful of animals, such as the guinea pig and the llama. So, fewer opportunities to catch something from them. Still, they had a new disease that spread to the Old World: syphilis, which certainly killed several million Old-Worlders, only it took longer to run its course and could be prevented by, well, chastity. An interesting idea: if you count victims of smoking towards the total death toll (tobacco is a New World plant), it may well be that the Old World suffered more deaths from the Columbian Exchange. But spread over a much larger population and a much longer time, these deaths didn't amount to destruction of entire civilizations.

coldtea 3y ago

>Many South Americans seem to have died, unfortunately, from diseases And a huge number from forced labour, executions, and torture, well described by the colonizers themselves.