Age of Discovery/1491
1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus is a 2005 non-fiction book by American author and science writer Charles C. Mann about the pre-Columbian Americas. It was the 2006 winner of the National Academies Communication Award for best creative work that helps the public understanding of topics in science, engineering or medicine.
- Look at the linked web pages.
- Numbers from nowhere(English)
- Very old Bones(English)
- Landscap with figures(English)
Forest Gardening(English) (Compare with the German version - link in left sidebar)
- Read the passages and write a short summary.
Measles
{{Zitat| [File:Measles Aztec drawing.jpg|left|thumb|16th-century Aztec drawing of someone with measles]] Measles is of zoonotic origins, having evolved from rinderpest, which infects cattle. It began causing infections in humans as early as the 4th century BC or as late as after AD 500. The first systematic description of measles, and its distinction from smallpox and chickenpox, is credited to the Persian physician Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi (860–932), who published The Book of Smallpox and Measles. At the time of Razi's book, it is believed that outbreaks were still limited and that the virus was not fully adapted to humans. Sometime between AD 1100 and 1200, the measles virus fully diverged from rinderpest, becoming a distinct virus that infects humans. This agrees with the observation that measles requires a susceptible population of >500,000 to sustain an epidemic, a situation that occurred in historic times following the growth of medieval European cities.
Measles is an endemic disease, meaning it has been continually present in a community and many people develop resistance. In populations not exposed to measles, exposure to the new disease can be devastating. In 1529, a measles outbreak in Cuba killed two-thirds of those indigenous people who had previously survived smallpox. Two years later, measles was responsible for the deaths of half the population of Honduras, and it has ravaged Mexico, Central America, and the Inca civilization.|Measles#History(English)
Weblinks
- NyTimes: '1491': Vanished Americans
- AtlanticMonthly: Population von Charles C. Mann