Free Republic

For hundreds of years, history left us wondering what disease killed the Aztecs in the mid-1500s. Many assumed the Aztecs were one of many Central American groups to be wiped out by European diseases like smallpox. However, DNA testing has unearthed new evidence about what really killed 80% of the Aztecs. Scientists extracted DNA from Aztec teeth, and discovered the presence of a strand of Salmonella. Research on climate change in Mexico at the time indicates droughts could have precipitated the spread of disease. Some things remain unexplained, however; only continued research can explain how a massive epidemic ravaged the...

Professor John Ellis has been a critic of our higher-education system for many years. His book The Breakdown of Higher Education (which I reviewed here) masterfully analyzed the perverse trends that were (and still are) causing our colleges and universities to deliver much less educational value at much higher cost. His latest book, A Short History of Relations Between Peoples, is not primarily about higher education, but Martin Center readers will find it important because Ellis indicts our academic elites for their role in undoing centuries of progress and turning humanity back towards tribalism. The main goal of this book...

The Jamestown settlement in Virginia, which officially was started on May 14, 1607, was one of the first European colonies to last in North America, and was historically significant for hosting the first parliamentary assembly in America. But Jamestown barely survived, as recent headlines about the confirmation of cannibalism at the colony confirm. The adaption to the North American continent by the early Europeans was extremely problematic. The success of tobacco as an early cash crop helped Jamestown weather the loss of most early colonists to disease, starvation, and attacks by the resident population of Native Americans. A turning point...