Born to Die: Disease and New World Conquest, 1492-1650

ISBN-13: 9780521627306 / Angielski / Miękka / 1998 / 268 str.

Noble David Cook; Stuart Schwartz

Opis

Noble David Cook explains, in vivid detail and sweeping scope, how the conquest of the New World was achieved by a handful of Europeans--not by the sword, but by deadly disease. The Aztec and Inca empires with their teeming millions were destroyed by a few hundred Europeans whose most important weapons, though the conquerors did not realize it at the time, were diseases previously unknown in the Americas. The end result of the colonizing experience in the Americas, whether of the Portuguese, Dutch, Spanish, English, or French, was the collapse of native society.

Recenzje

"Whether one is an expert or not in the role of diseases in the conquest of the New World, this book will prove an enlightening addition to your collection." Michael T. Campbell, Revista Interamericana

Spis treści

Introduction; 1. In the path of the hurricane: disease and the disappearance of the peoples of the Caribbean, 1492–1518; 2. The deaths of Aztec Cuitlahuac and Inca Huayna Capac: the first New World pandemics; 3. Settling in: epidemics and conquest to the end of the first century; 4. Regional outbreaks from the 1530s to century's end; 5. New arrivals: peoples and illnesses from 1600–1650; Conclusion.