Underground Isolate Society (Occluded Sun stay out)
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Count Arioch the 28th
- King
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- Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:54 pm
Also, did the plague that wiped out most of the population of North America happen before white people started showing up? I seem to remember reading that the population had pretty much been taken out before whitey even started colonizing north america.
In this moment, I am Ur-phoric. Not because of any phony god’s blessing. But because, I am enlightened by my int score.
The way colonization works is that first a bunch of explorers go out and figure out that these places even exist, and then the colonists come to build houses there. My understanding is that the explorers brought the plagues, and so by the time the colonists arrived the natives had been reduced to post-apocalyptic population levels. I'm not really sure about that, though.
Colonisation wasn't a single "big bang" event, any more than it is anywhere else. The colonisation of the Americas happened over centuries and featured gradual exploring, trading and settlement of different areas at different times. In many places it was common for the new colonists to run off - either singly or en masse - and join the local tribes. In other places penal colonists were pretty much dumped on the shores and told to build themselves prisons. In still others it was done via private enterprise and slavery, or via treasure hunting and looting. The spread of diseases was similarly something that happened in different places at different times.
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deaddmwalking
- Prince
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- Joined: Mon May 21, 2012 11:33 am
When the future United States was colonized, Old World diseases arrived with the Spanish explorers. It ravaged the populations before the first English colonists were established.
Perhaps interestingly, the Spanish explorers also reintroduced horses to North America. The 'plains Indians' with their iconic riding status was fairly new as well.
But just as with any other region, there were times of additional outbreaks. Just because a disease wipes out 50% of your population, there's no guarantee that you won't have more deaths 20 years later when it returns.
There's fairly good evidence that the reason the English were able to colonize North America while the Vikings didn't is greatly reduced native populations due to diseases introduced by the Spanish.
Perhaps interestingly, the Spanish explorers also reintroduced horses to North America. The 'plains Indians' with their iconic riding status was fairly new as well.
But just as with any other region, there were times of additional outbreaks. Just because a disease wipes out 50% of your population, there's no guarantee that you won't have more deaths 20 years later when it returns.
There's fairly good evidence that the reason the English were able to colonize North America while the Vikings didn't is greatly reduced native populations due to diseases introduced by the Spanish.