[blam]

"Years ago I read a book called "Plagues and Peoples". one of the things that the author pointed out was that a healthy population recovers from a plague, stuff like food, warm clothing, and enought fuel contributes to the health of a population."

Yup. I read (somewhere, I think in the 1491 article) last night that greater than 50% of the worlds food supply today is dependent on plant crops that originated in the Americas. The discovery of the Americas caused a population explosion in Europe.

[Little Bill]

The discovery of the Americas caused a population explosion in Europe.

The first effect was to enlarge the diet. The main effect; was American Food could feed a family on a small area of ground, took a couple of hundred years to get around. Kinda brings us up to the End of the Little Ice Age.