I have frequently heard about how smallpox devastated the new world’s indigenous populations during the beginning of colonization because they had no natural immunity. What I don’t understand is how did the reverse not happen. I naively assume indigenous diseases would impact Europeans and probably be brought back to Europe but I have never read of this happening.
In: Biology
Another thing I want to mention is that living in close quarters with domesticated animals increases the likelihood that a disease will jump from animals to humans.
A lot of the diseases Native Americans got were from the livestock that Europeans brought over. Europeans naturally had immunity.
Most indigenous Americans had a hunter-gatherer culture instead of an agrarian culture.
Latest Answers