Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick

        Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick was a book that focused on three main themes or topics in the 1620s, or when the Mayflower sailed over to the New World, they were: courage, community, and war. When the Pilgrims came over to the New World in 1620, not only did they bring themselves and their belongings that they felt they could not live without, they brought along diseases. These diseases they brought along with them, the Natives had no immunity to. In time, the Native American population would be almost completely wiped out because of this deadly disease.

 Among the "new" infectious diseases brought by the Europeans, smallpox was one of the most feared because of the high mortality rates in infected Native Americans. This fear may have been well-founded, because the Native Americans were victims of what was probably one of the earliest episodes of biological warfare. Fortunately, they were also major beneficiaries of early vaccination programs. Thus, the arrival of smallpox and the decline of the Native American populations are inexorably linked.^[1] Smallpox is a highly contagious and frequently fatal viral disease that is characterized by a biphasic fever and a distinctive skin rash that leaves pock marks in its wake.^[2]  For the Native Americans, the smallpox epidemic was, in many ways, worse than the plague of 1616-19.^[3] This effected the Natives in an unfair way. The English were invading their lands, taking their food/ food sources and then they started infecting the Natives with smallpox. William Bradford once said, “When they turn them, a whole side will flay off at once as it were, and they will be all of gore blood, most fearful to behold….They die like rotten sheep.”^[4] Massasoit was a Wampanoag Indian chief who highly encouraged friendship with the English. He and Edward Winslow were particularly close friends. When the outbreak of smallpox broke out, Massasoit was struck with the disease. Later in 1660, Massasoit died from smallpox. After Massasoit’s death, there really wasn’t anymore encouragement of friendships between Natives and the English, which later then led to King’s Phillip War.

Now, do not let the Natives get all the sympathy because, they diseased the English as well. When the Mayflower came over to the New World, the Natives infected them with sexually transmitted diseases (STD). Those diseases being: Syphilis and Hepatitis. Syphilis is a chronic infectious disease, caused by a spirochete, Treponema pallidum, usually venereal in origin but often congenital, and affecting almost any organ or tissue in the body, especially the genitals, skin, mucous membranes, aorta, brain, liver, bones, and nerves. ^[5] Hepatitis is inflammation of the liver, caused by a virus or a toxin and characterized by jaundice, liver enlargement, and fever.^[6] This led to the spread of STDs in Europe. What happened was the English came over and some of the men raped the Natives. In return the some of Natives gave the settlers the lovely Syphilis. The English men would then take it back with them to England, when they went back, and would give it to their wives or whoever. Syphilis then spread throughout the country pretty quickly.

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