Colonisation and novel disease transmission
Discussion
According both to general knowledge, and more specifically an episode of ‘In our time’ I was listening to, the colonisation of the americas by the Europeans wiped out a huge proportion of the native population (apparently up to 90-95%), as the native population had never been exposed to European diseases.
Why didn’t it work in reverse? Ok, to begin with, there were only a few conquistadors from memory, but surely some were exposed to diseases from the americas and subsequently returned home, (potentially) introducing those diseases to Europe?
Why didn’t it work in reverse? Ok, to begin with, there were only a few conquistadors from memory, but surely some were exposed to diseases from the americas and subsequently returned home, (potentially) introducing those diseases to Europe?
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