Moments of Permanence - In which the History Wars go cross-continental

From: (Anonymous) Date: May 11th, 2009 06:13 am (UTC) (Link)

Okay, slight misinterpretation there - but with lower population densities and lower trade epidemics can more easily sputter out than they could in 1950s -anywhere-. Especially if they're extremely virulent and kill most of their hosts. When the Pilgrims arrived, there was a nearby abandoned village site due to disease. De Soto's early expedition and the disappearance of the peoples he met is the other main point of evidence. I don't necessarily believe in the high pre-existing population estimates, but European diseases were hitting North America before serious colonization for sure.

Supposed deliberate biological warfare against Native Americans has mostly been debunked, by the way, except for one possible isolated incident. Theories of disease weren't developed enough at that time.

Relative to Europe, even the colonists were pretty disease free. Kids going for education in England died of disease with notorious frequency there because they hadn't been exposed as youngsters on their isolated farms. Since all Episcopal priests had to be ordained in London, this hit that denomination particularly hard.

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