Sickness And Disease During America's Exploration

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the Redemption of Christopher Columbus", Orson Scott Card introduces the idea that travelers moving back in time might offer a twisted version of illness and epidemic in the time of exploration. Rather than focus on the ability of the Europeans to introduce diseases into the New World, the author proposes that individuals in the New World might be offered some immunity to certain diseases by travelers going back in time. Europeans would be infected by the same diseases they would have upon entering the new world. The visitors from the future subjected the natives to the same smallpox illness that the Europeans would have, causing it to sweep through. However, in the case of Pastwatch Hunahpu, one of the characters that will travel back in time suggests the following: "It sweeps through the empire with exactly as much devastation as it had in Europe. Smallpox, measles-they have their terrible effect. But not one nation in Europe fell because of these plagues....with ...

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immediately recognizes the impact of illness: "Some three of four months after the settlement was formed, there came a pestilence from which many soldiers died, and in addition to this, all the rest of us fell ill and suffered from bad ulcers on the legs" (Diaz, 3). The Europeans suffered not only from syphilis but as indicated here malnutrition, possibly scurvy among other things. The diseases that plagued Europeans likely spared the native people of Mexico and much stronger and quicker destruction of their homeland and rule. It gave the native people an unforeseen advantage over the foreign intruders, likely buying them time in some situations and power in others. The Europeans ...

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