Why did the Maya manage to survive in such densely populated societies? Did they simply suffer less to European epidemics due to by chance having more robust immune systems?
How Far the U.S. Would Have Annexed Mexico
- Thread starter TickTock The Witch's Dead
- Start date
Why did the Maya manage to survive in such densely populated societies? Did they simply suffer less to European epidemics due to by chance having more robust immune systems?
I could say all of Mexico if US was ruthless enough and wanted more anti-slave states to counter the slave ones.
Tallest Skil
Banned
And if they wanted a 3-way civil war.
More that Europeans weren’t really responsible for diseases being spread.
Of course the genocide could be countered.
Deleted member 67076
Spain left them alone enough for the population to rebound.
Well, to start with, they had a substantial population density. Knock back 50% of the population to epidemics, and they could breed back within a generation.
Secondly, they were an organized agricultural society. That meant that most of the time they had ready access to stores of food and water. That's important.
Hunter/Gatherer societies were disproportionately devastated because their lifestyle meant much higher mortality rates. If you're going on a hunter-gathering lifestyle, there's no accessible surplus available. You're basically hunting/gathering your dinner every day or every few days. That's fine when you and yours are all healthy and hale. But if you are really sick and incapacitated, then you add starvation and dehydration on top of things. You die, where you might have pulled through if you'd had more access to food and water.
It's not a complete answer. But it's a start.