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Populations and introduced diseases?

It is often taught in school and other places that the Europeans (Spaniards as the main example) brought diseases to the new world, and that these diseases (smallpox as the most common example, but also others including various STDs) did far more damage than these Europeans ever could have to the native populations.

I find it odd though, that it was such a one sided relationship, that there is never any mention of the reverse effect. One would think that two population groups in relatively perfect isolation for thousands of years would develop immunities/resistances to much different types of pathogens. Therefore once coming in contact with one another, they would have a relatively equal effect in terms of devastation on each other. But at least from what I've learned from history classes this is not the case, and it seems from what is taught in schools that only the native populations were effected by introduced diseases, and that the European settlers never experienced any ill-effects.

I've heard of Montezuma's Revenge, but that seems more of like a symptom than a disease (maybe I'm wrong). But even If Montezuma's Revenge is a disease, it's still fairly localized, and doesn't come close to the devastation that the native populations felt during the initial couple hundred years of European colonization.

So, theoretically, I assume that when two isolated populations come in contact with one another they will equally share the burden of the other's diseases. Thus, my questions are: Are there example of diseases that affected Europeans, but not so much (if at all) the Natives? If so, why would such diseases or epidemics be so little known? Is it a case of the victors writing History?

1 Answer

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  • ?
    Lv 7
    10 years ago
    Favourite answer

    Montezuma's Revenge is actually a disease, it's just not usually fatal.

    Part of the reason that European settlers were less impacted by disease is that only the strongest Europeans could survive the trip - the part of the European population most likely to be impacted by new pathogens stayed in Europe. However, the Europeans who settled new places came into contact with whole populations, including those who would be negatively impacted by new disease.

    Europeans also had a more sophisticated understanding of how disease was spread, and were able to utilize the strategies of germ warfare. There are historical examples of settlers taking blankets and other gifts that contained smallpox (which they knew to quarantine), and trading them with native peoples, who would spread the illness through the population before people had any symptoms.

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