Stan Shebs wrote:
Ray Saintonge wrote:
Stan Shebs wrote:
Some writers blame Europeans for bringing diseases to the New World - centuries before anybody even had any idea how diseases got around.
I'm sure that General Amherst knew what he was doing when he gave infected blankets to the Indians in 1767. At the Battle of Kaffa in 1346 the besieging Tartars used catapults to fling plague infected bodies into the city. Understanding how infectious diseases worked did not prevent them from being used for military purposes.
Yes, plague was known to be infectious early on, and by the 18th century the generalized theory was in the air. The oversimplified version in books mixes up centuries of history though, leaving the impression that Columbus genocided the Indians by coughing into their faces. :-)
Columbus gets it going both ways. There is still some dispute about whether he brought yellow fever to the new world, and he is linked to an outbreak nf that disease in Hispanola in 1495-6. That disease is transmitted by a mosquito rather than by coughing.
He was also blamed for the outbreak of syphilis in the French army in 1404-5. It was the first major outbreak of the disease in Europe. The army that besieged Naples also included a number of Spanish soldiers who had been with Columbus suring his first voyage.
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