How smallpox devastated the Aztecs – and helped Spain conquer an American civilization 500 years ago
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February 27, 2019
(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.)
(THE CONVERSATION) Recent outbreaks in the U.S. have drawn attention to the dangers of measles. The Democratic Republic of Congo is fighting a deadly outbreak of Ebola that has killed hundreds.
Epidemics are nothing new, of course. And some widespread infectious dieseases have profoundly changed the course of human history.
Five hundred years ago, in February of 1519, the Spaniard Hernán Cortés set sail from Cuba to explore and colonize Aztec civilization in the Mexican interior. W...
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