I’m not saying they weren’t affected at all, but something like 90% of Native Americans were wiped out while places like Japan and deep parts of the African interior didn’t suffer nearly as hard, even though they previously had basically no contact with Europe.
In: 1583
Japan had periodic smallpox outbreaks starting in the 700s. An outbreak in 735 killed about 30% of the population. There were still smallpox outbreaks in the 19th century. An early version of variolation began in China, but never spread to Japan until after European contact.
I think there may be a bit of a misunderstanding of how these diseases work. There’s no genetic immunity to smallpox in Europe. Europeans got resistance because they were constantly exposed to it, but it was still deadly. Those born in America who weren’t exposed to it when young (typically those in rural areas) were just as susceptible as Native Americans. What made smallpox (and other diseases) so deadly in North America was a combination of a bunch of things. When there was an outbreak those who didn’t know they were infected often fled to friendly settlements. None of the adults had acquired immunity, so there was no one to farm or hunt and famines resulted. And, most importantly, European warfare and slave raids prevented the population from bouncing back. Native Americans could have withstood disease alone.
Latest Answers