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Christopher Columbus brought measles to the New World. It was a disaster for Native Americans.
San Jose Mercury ^ | May 6, 2019 | Michael S. Rosenwald

Posted on 05/06/2019 6:15:09 AM PDT by artichokegrower

In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue, bringing to the New World a bounty of wonder: coffee, horses, turnips, grapes, wine.

But Columbus and his fellow explorers, in addition to importing crops and animals we now take for granted, were also the Typhoid Marys of their time.

The New World before Columbus: no typhoid, no flu, no smallpox, no measles.

The New World after Columbus: epidemics of death.

(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: columbus; discovery; measles; outbreak; plague
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To: PGR88

bttt


41 posted on 05/06/2019 6:43:02 AM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either satire or opinion. Or both.)
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To: artichokegrower
Yeah so what. Are these people racist? I thought we were supposed to welcome everyone regardless, including Columbus. Everone is welcome …
42 posted on 05/06/2019 6:44:13 AM PDT by Governor Dinwiddie
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To: artichokegrower

Wait a minute...

WHO says there were no diseases here before Columbus??

Did they find this fact in an indigenous library pre-Columbus or something?

Indians NEVER got sick or died til Columbus got here, right?

...Mmmm Hmm... right.. got it..


43 posted on 05/06/2019 6:45:00 AM PDT by joethedrummer
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To: Altura Ct.
So what?

This.

44 posted on 05/06/2019 6:46:18 AM PDT by Sans-Culotte (If it weren't for fake hate crimes, there would be no hate crimes at all.)
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To: artichokegrower

..........go back to the pre-Columbian stone age living as hunter gatherers....

The buggers were canibals on a grand scale.


45 posted on 05/06/2019 6:46:29 AM PDT by Lion Den Dan
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To: Altura Ct.

And the North Americans gave the Europeans syphilis which killed millions in Europe.


46 posted on 05/06/2019 6:47:52 AM PDT by Bayan
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To: artichokegrower

..........go back to the pre-Columbian stone age living as hunter gatherers....

The buggers were cannibals on a grand scale.

Fixed it.


47 posted on 05/06/2019 6:48:26 AM PDT by Lion Den Dan
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To: artichokegrower

Two biospheres collided during the Colombian Exchange. Of course, nobody understood germs or bacteria or viruses at the time. Blaming Colombia or White guys for this is no more reasonable than it would be for Westerners to blame the Chinese for Bubonic Plague since that’s where scientists think it originated. Mass epidemics were very destructive and tragic but they weren’t anybody’s fault particularly.


48 posted on 05/06/2019 6:49:30 AM PDT by FLT-bird
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To: Poison Pill
There is a great book that deals with that question called "Guns, Germs and Steel" by Jared Diamond

I remember that Diamond used to write an interesting monthly column in the long defunct Science Digest magazine back in the 80s. At one point he wrote a column called "The Arrow of Disease" that posed this question. He had no answers and since then it's always stuck with me as a curiosity (hence I recall the name of that column, for example). I imagine he expanded his thinking behind that column into a book. Maybe I'll check it out to see where it led him.

49 posted on 05/06/2019 6:49:45 AM PDT by pepsi_junkie (Often wrong, but never in doubt!)
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To: artichokegrower

Also, the Indians sent syphilis back to Europe so it went both ways.


50 posted on 05/06/2019 6:50:02 AM PDT by willyd (I for one welcome our NSA overlords)
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To: artichokegrower
To the author of this piece of PC trash I say "Where is your evidence?" How does he know those diseases were not present in the new world? Answer he doesn't, the guy is totally squirting this garbage out of his ass

According to the best estimates the Americas were populated by Asians who came over a land bridge between Siberia and Alaska 10,000 - 12,000 years ago. for his drivel to even have a chance of being true, that would have to mean that those diseases evolved in the last 10-12k years. Extremely unlikely. Does anyone think that stone age man in Europe and Asia was disease free?

Then there is the total lack of verification of the diseases tolls upon the natives. Nothing factual at all just speculation. this kind of drivel is uncritically accepted by morons which is some regard why there are Democrats in government today - representing the credulous morons in the country.

51 posted on 05/06/2019 6:51:10 AM PDT by from occupied ga (Your government is your most dangerous enemy)
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To: artichokegrower

It’s been pointed out to me that smallpox does not exist outside a few laboratories anymore. So although our illegal invader brethren are gifting us with a variety of new (and old) diseases, smallpox is not among them.


52 posted on 05/06/2019 6:51:37 AM PDT by IronJack
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To: FLT-bird

but they weren’t anybody’s fault particularly.


Yes they were, they were called acts of God.

https://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/act+of+god


53 posted on 05/06/2019 6:55:31 AM PDT by PeterPrinciple (Thinking Caps are no longer being issued but there must be a warehouse full of them somewhere.)
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To: artichokegrower

And if the Indians had discovered Europe first, they would have still brought home those same diseases, and left Syphilis behind, which devastated Europe, which it did when Columbus returned to Europe.


54 posted on 05/06/2019 6:55:34 AM PDT by Ruy Dias de Bivar
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To: pepsi_junkie

Many diseases come from living in close proximity with domesticated animals. Native Americans also had some domesticated animals, but Europeans had many more, different animals than the Natives.

A good book about this is “Guns, Germs & Steel” by Jarred Diamond.


55 posted on 05/06/2019 6:56:00 AM PDT by Tallguy (Facts be d*mned! The narrative of the day must be preserved!)
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To: artichokegrower

Her is a rather interesting link I found years ago.

https://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/29/science/don-t-blame-columbus-for-all-the-indians-ills.html


56 posted on 05/06/2019 6:57:42 AM PDT by Ruy Dias de Bivar
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To: artichokegrower

“Here”, said Columbus....”Put this trunk of measles in Cabin 4. We’ll drop it off in the New World...which is where....who the hell knows”.


57 posted on 05/06/2019 6:59:12 AM PDT by Sacajaweau
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To: Poison Pill
There is a great book that deals with that question called "Guns, Germs and Steel" by Jared Diamond

I agree with you there ... a fantastic book ...


58 posted on 05/06/2019 6:59:55 AM PDT by BlueLancer (Orchides Forum Trahite - Cordes Et Mentes Veniant)
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To: pepsi_junkie

Syphilis, it seems, developed in the New World from yaws, perhaps 1,600 years ago, and was waiting for Columbus and his crew. The Rothschilds are now examining skeletal collections from the Bahamas to look for evidence of syphilis nearer to Columbus’ landfall.


59 posted on 05/06/2019 7:01:47 AM PDT by Broker (She lost.)
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To: BlueLancer

General topic - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbian_exchange


60 posted on 05/06/2019 7:02:28 AM PDT by RightGeek (FUBO and the donkey you rode in on)
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