Plagues And Peoples Chapter Summary

McNeil begins by examining different diseases in the environment of early humans. He believed human society and disease have attained a counter balance before the Neolithic revolution. Cultivation brought many changes, along with change to an inactive and bigger community. In addition to being contiguous with domesticated animals, a habitat that encouraged a faster mutation of the diseased organisms for both humans and animals. Farmers that worked in irrigation channels were vulnerable to attacks from water parasites. The close contact with animals created an easy susceptible way for parasites to transfer from animal to human. This creates the simple cycle of farmer going to the farmers market where he/she comes in contact with many people …show more content…
In India and China many favored Hinduism and Buddhism for the promise of salvation. In Europe, Christianity was favored for the dedication of giving aid to the sick and in the Middle East and Africa turned to Islam. But the epidemics and catastrophic outbreaks helped Christianity grow the most making it a large and dominant faith. Within the book Plagues and Peoples, McNeil was able to give a few theories on how Christianity was able to grow. He begins by explaining that through such Hellenic times, Christianity was able to give a gratifying reason for why such outbreaks occurred and was able to give people hope and enthusiasm for a better future. Care and charity had been a norm in regular service and beliefs. So when any type of epidemic occurred, it gave people a way to endure through it which resulted in a higher rate of survival. At the end of each outbreak, many that survived ended up being Christian giving the belief of a miracle, which helped influence conversion, furthermore help Christianity grow and flourish throughout these hard …show more content…
His discovery of the new world unveiled a world of disease, causing 90 percent of Native Americans in Mexico to die. Small pox killed one third of the Native American population within the colonies. When this began Europeans needed another source of slavery which bought about the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. Africa had as much diseased regions as Europe so when slaves were brought to the new world, Malaria and Yellow fever were introduced to the Americas. Malaria eventually resulted in of the depopulation of most Native Americans in warm tropical regions of Central America. Despite many Europeans being killed of disease, they benefited from Trans-Atlantic trade because of the large food supply of maize, potatoes, and