polite_gandalf wrote on Nov 3^rd, 2017 at 11:03am:


Well sure, but I don't buy the Smallpox blankets. Settlers had no idea of germ theory, and wouldn't be able to spread smallpox without getting it themselves.

And where would they even get the smallpox virus from?

In Australia, Aborigines in Sydney were wiped out by smallpox, not deliberately, but through contact with Europeans.

A theory, Brian, and not a very good one. Discoveries in smallpox/cowpox inoculation didn't happen until the 1790s.

The colonisers spread the virus through their own genetic antibodies.

In January 1714 Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society published an account of a letter John Woodward had received from Emmanuel Timonius in Constantinople.[18] Smallpox inoculation was advocated as a proven method of curbing the severity of the disease.

The practice was introduced to England by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. Lady Montagu's husband, Edward Wortley Montagu, served as the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire from 1716 to 1718. She witnessed firsthand the Turkish use of inoculation in Istanbul,[19] and was greatly impressed:[20] she had lost a brother to smallpox and bore facial scars from the disease herself. When a smallpox epidemic threatened England in 1721, she called on her physician, Charles Maitland, to inoculate her daughter. She invited friends to see her daughter, including Sir Hans Sloane, the King's physician. Sufficient interest arose that Maitland gained permission to test inoculation at Newgate Prison in exchange for their freedom on six prisoners due to be hanged, an experiment which was witnessed by a number of notable doctors.[21] All survived, and in 1722 the Prince of Wales' daughters received inoculations.[22]

The practice of inoculation slowly spread amongst the royal families of Europe, usually followed by more general adoption amongst the people.

The practice is documented in America as early as 1721, when Zabdiel Boylston, at the urging of Cotton Mather, successfully inoculated two slaves and his own son. Mather, a prominent Boston minister, had heard a description of the African practice of inoculation from his Sudanese slave, Onesimus, in 1706, and later from Timoni's report to the Royal Society,[23] but had been previously unable to convince local physicians to attempt the procedure.[24] Following this initial success, Boylston began performing inoculations throughout Boston, despite much controversy and at least one attempt upon his life. The effectiveness of the procedure was proven when, of the nearly three hundred people Boylston inoculated during the outbreak, only six died, whereas the mortality rate among those who contracted the disease naturally was one in six.[25] Boylston traveled to London in 1724. There he published his results and was elected to the Royal Society in 1726.

In France, considerable opposition arose to the introduction of inoculation, and it was banned by the Parlement. Voltaire, in his Lettres Philosophiques, wrote a criticism of his countrymen for being opposed to inoculation and having so little regard for the welfare of their children, concluding that "had inoculation been practised in France it would have saved the lives of thousands.".[27]

Inoculation grew in popularity in Europe through the 18th century. Given the high prevalence and often severe consequences of smallpox in Europe in the 18th century (according to Voltaire, there was a 60% incidence of first infection, a 20% mortality rate, and a 20% incidence of severe scarring),[28] many parents felt that the benefits of inoculation outweighed the risks and so inoculated their children.[29]

freediver wrote on Nov 3^rd, 2017 at 12:13pm:


Does it FD? Lets see - go to the article and press ctrl-f and type in the word "drought". How many hits do you get? Never mind, I'll save you the trouble, we know you have an aversion to actually reading sources. Its zero, nada, zilch. Oh, and just for fun, why not do the same for "weather". Oh what the hell, lets try "climate". Can you guess how many hits there are? 

I was actually inviting you to use your common sense. I kinda figured that the establishment of (by far) the largest programs of invasion and conquest and ethnic cleansing the world has ever seen - the first time that such a program had global reach, the first time in which entire continents were conquered and in many cases cleansed of natives - by the many millions - is self-evidently a level of slaughter and destruction not seen before in history. Also, the irony of you, on so many previous occasions refusing to cite evidence for your claims while hiding behind the most absurd "I defer to common sense" justifications - is not lost on me.

General Amherst, having learned that smallpox had broken out among the garrison at Fort Pitt, and after learning on July 7 of the loss of his forts at Venango, Le Boeuf and Presqu'Isle, wrote to Colonel Bouquet, "Could it not be contrived to send the small pox among the disaffected tribes of Indians? We must on this occasion use every stratagem in our power to reduce them." 

From your link:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atrocities_in_the_Congo_Free_State

lso, didn't your link about the Congo say a lot of the deaths were caused by drought?