How did remote places in Asia and Africa not succumb to the same wave of disease and death that the Native Americans did?

Question

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

Answer 1

Trade routes in the ancient world were extensive. Amber from the Baltics, incense from Arabia, tin from Cornwall, silk from China, spices from East Africa. Everyone was trading with their neighbors as early as 2,000 BC, and by AD 1 the Old World was pretty interconnected.

A plague outbreak in Mongolia would soon pass to China, follow the trade routes to India and Japan, hitch a ride on the caravans to the Levant and take the Roman roads to Europe and hence to Britain and south to Sub-Saharan Africa as well. Even remote villages traded to neighboring villages, who then had contact with larger towns.