Guns, Germs, and Steel: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 00:12, 13 November 2005

Revision as of 00:11, 16 November 2005

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In the later context of the [[European colonization of the Americas|European-American conquest of the Americas]], 95 percent of the indigenous populations are believed to have been [[Population history of American indigenous peoples|killed off by diseases]] unwittingly brought by the Europeans.

How was it then that disease native to the American continents did not kill off Europeans? Diamond points out that the combined effect of the increased population densities supported by agriculture, and of close human proximity to domesticated animals leading to animal diseases infecting humans, resulted in European societies acquiring a much richer collection of dangerous pathogens to which European peoples had acquired immunity through [[natural selection]] (see the [[Black Death]] and other epidemics) during a longer time than was the case for [[Native AmericansIndigenous_peoples_of_the_Americas|Native American]] [[hunter-gatherers]] and farmers. He mentions the tropical diseases (mainly [[malaria]]) that limited European penetration into Africa as an exception.

== Criticism ==