The die offs in areas with better records parallel and support the
claims that European diseases were devastating to all American
hemisphere populations, and the reverse was never true.  Unlike, for
example, India or Asia.
There is a hot dispute about the original size of the indigenous
population, but the evidence for a high density in the Mexican area is
sound.  It was up here in the North or in the Amazon where I'm a little
more suspicious of very high upward revisions.
At least that was my take.
I have never heard anyone seriously argue that European diseases were
not a significant factor, or that there were not in fact a lot of Aztec
people prior to Cortez.  Gee, I've never before heard someone argue
unseriously about it either.
Do you have a reference for a book or article which does so?
> -----Original Message-----
> From: fork-admin@xent.com [mailto:fork-admin@xent.com] On Behalf Of
Robert
> Harley
> Sent: Sunday, August 18, 2002 4:57 PM
> To: fork@spamassassin.taint.org
> Cc: rah@shipwright.com
> Subject: Re: Al'Qaeda's fantasy ideology: Policy Review no. 114
>
> >See Jared Diamond's excellent "Guns, Germs, and Steel" for the story.
>
> Yeah, I know the party line.  The evidence for it is extremely meagre.
> New Worlders had two entire continents and tens of millions of people,
> which is a plenty big enough reservoir for infectious diseases to
thrive
> in.  Their records show that they were plagued with them long before
1492.
>
> Take Ireland in the early 1800s.  Assume a population of circa 8
> million.  Take Ireland around 1900.  Assume a population not much
> above 3 million.  Ignore natural variations between mortality and
> natality.  Omit emigration.  Observe the Great Famine in the middle.
> Deduce that it killed 5 million (actually about 1).  Transpose to 16th
> century Mexico.  Grossly inflate estimates of pre-contact population,
> because nobody has a damn clue what it was anyway.  Underestimate
> later population levels.  Deduce that 10's of millions died.  Lather,
> rinse, repeat.
>
> R
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