New Disease
Tuesday, July 17th, 2007In general, any disease is most dangerous to a human society upon first exposure; within a few generations, natural selection encourages the survival of individuals who have some natural resistance. When Europeans began colonial expansion in the 15th century, they brought new diseases (such as smallpox and measles) to the colonized lands; these diseases killed millions of indigenous inhabitants. Diseases that they encountered for the first time killed the colonizers themselves