The Evolution of Disease in the Americas

By the time Columbus landed, a lot of civilizations were already on the brink. We never really know what they might have learned if they'd actually met as kind of equals without these pathogens being spread through the ocean. There's no real inherent reason that Europeans were able to basically wipe out entire civilizations rather than the other way around. I think it helps to assuage colonial guilt if you think you are displacing a small population of savages and inverted commasRather than a very sophisticated, very large population that essentially are the same as you.