Date: Wed, 20 Apr 2005 18:05:52 -0400 (EDT) From: dicconf <dicconf at radix.net> To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at WSFA.org> Subject: [WSFA] Re: Third Friday Minutes Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at WSFA.org> On Wed, 20 Apr 2005, Madeleine Yeh wrote: > On Wed, 20 Apr 2005 13:45:59 -0400 > "Michael Walsh" <MJW at press.jhu.edu> wrote: > >> macbuccfo at msn.com 4/20/2005 1:40:12 PM >>> > >>silly Europeans? Too bad they didn't have any plagues > >>them could give the > >>intruders to their shores. Might have changed history in > >>significant > >>ways... > > > > "Hello, Harry... I have an idea for new alt history > >series for > > you..." > > > > mjw > > > > Why alt history? The death toll for people going to > Africa and India from Europe used to be quite high .... > Or trying to make a fortune on the sugar islands. > Malaria, Yellow jack. Or Louisiana Dang! I forgot Yellow Jack, but Malaria wasn't given to Europeans by the Indians. It was worldwide as far back as records go. There is some reason to think it was a runin with a malarial mosquito that did in Alexander the Great, and the fact that the disease was endemic in the Campagna explains the Italian name. -- Dick Eney