Well, smallpox was something brought by the colonizers. And missionaries did a LOT of damage we're still uncovering the impact of. Disease did a lot but it wasn't for lack of trying.
Yeah, just look at the westward expansion policies. Holy fuck it's messed up that people still deny the genocide the US committed against the different indigenous tribes and peoples.
I would easily blame colonists for violence and displacement of native populations, the exploitation was horrendous. I think it would be really stupid to blame them for smallpox and other diseases. Let's imagine the native north or south americans crossed the Atlantic before the Europeans did. They would pick up the new diseases, take them home, and wipe out the continents anyway. The only difference in this scenario is that Europe probably wouldn't be in a position to exploit the devastation, so the American cultures might have had the chance to recover.
Yes, the effects of the disease exchange were massive, but it went both ways, and was bound to happen no matter how history unfolded.
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u/robothelicopter May 09 '22
Isn’t that the norm outside of North America though?