But it's not clear that Western military technology *was* able to overwhelm healthy Indian communities, at least not in the 1600s. Disease led the way: Plymouth was settled on mass graves, Pizarro conquered an empire disrupted by smallpox killing the emperor, heir, and half the generals. Brazil may not have been empty, the first descriptions are of lots of villages, even cities, just as in North America. It's the second wave of explorers who found 'emptiness'...
Charles Mann's 1491 might be of interest, or the original essay.
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Date: 2009-08-18 12:46 pm (UTC)But it's not clear that Western military technology *was* able to overwhelm healthy Indian communities, at least not in the 1600s. Disease led the way: Plymouth was settled on mass graves, Pizarro conquered an empire disrupted by smallpox killing the emperor, heir, and half the generals. Brazil may not have been empty, the first descriptions are of lots of villages, even cities, just as in North America. It's the second wave of explorers who found 'emptiness'...
Charles Mann's 1491 might be of interest, or the original essay.