Born to Die by Noble David Cook

Born to Die by Noble David Cook

The biological mingling of the Old and New Worlds began with the first voyage of Columbus. The exchange was a mixed blessing: it led to the disappearance of entire peoples in the Americas, but it also resulted in the rapid expansion and consequent economic and military hegemony of Europeans. Amerindians had never before experienced the deadly Eurasian sicknesses brought by the foreigners in wave after wave: smallpox, measles, typhus, plague, influenza, malaria, yellow fever. These diseases literally conquered the Americas before the sword could be unsheathed. From 1492 to 1650, from Hudson's Bay in the north to southernmost Tierra del Fuego, disease weakened Amerindian resistance to outside domination. The Black Legend, which attempts to place all of the blame of the injustices of conquest on the Spanish, must be revised in light of the evidence that all Old World peoples carried, though largely unwittingly, the germs of the destruction of American civilization.

"The book challenges the Black Legend, which attempts to place all of the blame for the injustices of conquest on the Spanish, to demonstrate how all Old World peoples carried, literally though unwittingly, the germs of the destruction of American civilization" UC MEXUS NEWS

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780521622080
ISBN 10	0521622085
Title	Born to Die
Author	Noble David Cook
Series	New Approaches To The Americas
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Cambridge University Press
Year published	1998-02-13
Number of pages	264
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.