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Actually, it's thought that few diseases (perhaps only limited to venereal diseases) were brought back to Eurasia from the Americas. Thoughts on this range fro
by jimktrains2 12y ago
Actually, it's thought that few diseases (perhaps only limited to venereal diseases) were brought back to Eurasia from the Americas. Thoughts on this range from the higher densities Europeans may have been living at and the much higher contact with many more varied types of animals. Though I'm not sure we know exactly.
- jessaustin 12y agoYeah I've read Diamond's book too. b^) The livestock hypothesis is plausible, but another model would be the following, from the perspective of the crew of explorers: Crew carries all diseases endemic to their native land. Crew travels to foreign land. Now foreign land has all diseases endemic to native land, and crew has some diseases endemic to foreign land. (The all/some asymmetry I get from the assumption that a crew of nothing-to-lose sailors are likely to be better-traveled than the tribe that inhabits their landing site.) Some or all of crew dies of these foreign diseases while in foreign land. Whatever portion of crew returns to native land carries foreign diseases that are survivable from a no-immunity starting point. Population of foreign land has all native diseases, including those such as smallpox which will leave alive but a fraction of a population that has no immunity.