I have read and heard from different sources that the exchanges in biological cultures that resulted from the 1st encounters between natives and Europeans was significant on both sides. But, as John says, more so on the American side. They were unable to recover from it. Aside from the devastating effects of smallpox in the Americas, I have read that syphilis was carried back to Europe by Columbus’ crew. So there were terrible costs on both sides from initial contact.
We watched a show on PBS years ago essentially made from Jared Diamond’s, ‘Guns, Germs and Steel’, that highlighted how western civilization was so much more prepared for exploration than any other on the planet. You could make the argument that infectious diseases brought here from Europe would probably qualify today as genocide.
World explorers. From Indonesia, Phoenicia and Europe, it’s been going on a long time.
Duane
Yea, many tens of millions dead from diseases, the rest enslaved and worked to death by the tens of thousands, wiping out entire populations routinely, that qualifies as genocide. That was just Columbus and company in the beginning between 1495 and 1515 in the Caribbean. Cruelty like selling human body parts as dog meat in the Panama market is a step further, I suppose. I don't think that comparing that to the outbreak of VD is a fair comparison.
One reason for the genocide was about the Native Americans who were first sold as slaves in Spain (Columbus went back for 500, of which 200 died in transport). There was disgust at how civilized THEY weren't. The complaint was that they would stand in the market place entirely oblivious and comfortable naked, "like animals." This naked savages attitude created the policy for centuries and still is in vogue among highfalutin throwbacks today ("they're still out there"). These are among the roots of our predicament. Ethnocentric attitudes believing different people as less than human, because they are naked, natural and nice to others.
Jbee
