2 ms·

Well regardless, we know North American natives had extensive sanitation practices and epidemics were quite rare. Syphilis, tuberculosis, intestinal parasites,

by culi 2mo ago

Well regardless, we know North American natives had extensive sanitation practices and epidemics were quite rare. Syphilis, tuberculosis, intestinal parasites, and Chagas disease were all present but rarely turned into mass outbreaks. Mass graves are almost completely absent and life tables show steady and predictable mortality curves over centuries https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2024802118 https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2024802118 https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1071659/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1071659/ https://globalbiodefense.com/2020/06/15/what-the-archaeological-record-reveals-about-epidemics-throughout-history/ https://globalbiodefense.com/2020/06/15/what-the-archaeologi... I find it hard to believe that Europeans living in close quarters with livestock didn't result in increased rates of epidemics tbh but I'll take your word for it

InTheArena 2mo ago
I didn;t say that it didn't - in fact, the reality was mass casulty events where common in a way that is unthinkable. We do _ in fact_ have plenty of mass graves for colonists. The lack of evidence of the same on the American Indian side makes me skeptical of the whole narrative. i think it's quite likely that the casualties where in similar scope across two different civilizations, but that the colonialists advantage (if you can call it such) of excess population and higher density of settlers, meant that the colonialists simply outlasted a far smaller population group.
- ab5tract 2mo ago
  You’re doing a lot of heavy lifting with this word colonist. The mass graves are either “imported criminal” (being in debt was a crime) or slave populations. And it was much more about the horrid working conditions that these forced laborers were forced to work under.

2 ms·

Well regardless, we know North American natives had extensive sanitation practices and epidemics were quite rare. Syphilis, tuberculosis, intestinal parasites,

by culi 2mo ago

InTheArena 2mo ago
I didn;t say that it didn't - in fact, the reality was mass casulty events where common in a way that is unthinkable. We do _ in fact_ have plenty of mass graves for colonists. The lack of evidence of the same on the American Indian side makes me skeptical of the whole narrative. i think it's quite likely that the casualties where in similar scope across two different civilizations, but that the colonialists advantage (if you can call it such) of excess population and higher density of settlers, meant that the colonialists simply outlasted a far smaller population group.
- ab5tract 2mo ago
  You’re doing a lot of heavy lifting with this word colonist. The mass graves are either “imported criminal” (being in debt was a crime) or slave populations. And it was much more about the horrid working conditions that these forced laborers were forced to work under.