The video discusses the impact of European diseases on the indigenous population of the New World during the period between the arrival of the first Europeans in 1492 and the Victorian age. The population of the New World dropped by at least 90% due to the introduction of European diseases such as smallpox, typhus, tuberculosis, influenza, bubonic plague, cholera, mumps, measles, and more. These diseases were brought by the Europeans and spread rapidly among the indigenous populations, leading to a significant decrease in the population.
The video also explains why the Europeans did not suffer from these diseases. The answer lies in the distinction between regular diseases and plagues. Regular diseases, like the common cold, spread slowly and can be managed, while plagues spread quickly and either kill you within a few days or make you immune. The New World did not have plagues because it lacked the large, densely populated cities where plagues could thrive.
The video further explains that plagues come from animals. For instance, whooping cough comes from pigs, as does flu, as well as from birds. Our friend the cow alone is responsible for measles, tuberculosis, and smallpox. However, germs jumping species like this is extraordinarily rare. The Old World had the necessary pieces in abundance, including domesticated animals that could serve as hosts for these diseases, which contributed to the spread of plagues.
The New World, on the other hand, did not have good animal candidates for domestication. Almost everything big enough to be useful was also too dangerous or too agile. The only native domestication contestant was the llama, but it was not as useful as the domesticated animals in the Old World.
In conclusion, the lack of New World animals to domesticate limited not only exposure to germs but also limited food production, which limited population growth, which limited cities, which made plagues in the New World an almost impossibility. In the Old World, exactly the reverse was true, resulting in a continent full of plague and a continent devoid of it.
1. Between the first Europeans arriving in 1492 and the Victorian age, the indigenous population of the New World dropped by at least 90%.
2. The cause of this drop was not the conquistadors and company, but the diseases they brought with them: smallpox, typhus, tuberculosis, influenza, bubonic plague, cholera, mumps, measles, and more.
3. These diseases spread rapidly from the first explorers to the coastal tribes, then onward through a hemisphere of people with no defenses against them, resulting in tens of millions of deaths.
4. The Europeans did not get sick because they had regular diseases but there was no Americapox to carry.
5. The New World did not have plagues because it did not have big, dense, terribly sanitized deeply interconnected cities for plagues to thrive.
6. The Old World had the necessary pieces in abundance for plagues to thrive, including animals that could be put to human use, such as cows, pigs, and sheep.
7. The New World lacked these animals, limiting not only exposure to germs sources but also food production, which limited population growth, cities, and thus, plagues.
8. The lack of domesticable animals in the New World limited the growth of complex societies, which in turn limited the spread of plagues.
9. The Old World had more valuable and easy animals to domesticate, such as dogs, which made herding sheep and cattle easier.
10. This led to more domestication, more food, more people, and more density, which made plagues in the New World an almost impossibility.
11. The Old World was a continent full of plague and a continent devoid of it.
12. The lack of domesticable animals in the New World limited the spread of germs, which in turn limited the growth of complex societies.
13. The Old World had access to domesticated animals in numbers and diversity, which was the key resource to bootstrapping a complex society from nothing.
14. The complexity of these societies brought with it, unintentionally, a passive biological weaponry devastating to outsiders.
15. The game of civilization has nothing to do with the players, and everything to do with the map. Access to domesticated animals in numbers and diversity is the key resource to bootstrapping a complex society from nothing.