His most pointed example (he starts the book with it) is of Cortez\u2019s encounter with the Amerindians<\/a>. It wasn\u2019t stunning weaponry or supernatural myth or intervention that won over the Amerindians, it was smallpox \u2013 which would go on to wipe out up to 90% of the human population in both North and South America, either directly, through infection, or indirectly, through the ensuing social chaos and warfare as societies fell apart. <\/p>\n But he also (more to my interests) discusses the rise of both Christianity and Buddhism<\/a>. Christianity was little more than a charismatic cult in the Roman Empire until successive plagues swept through in the second and third centuries. The other-worldly promises in contrast with the pagan \u2018live life to the fullest\u2019 motto became quite appealing when even the young and healthy were being killed in the scores by devastating illness. Christianity also demands that one takes care of the ill \u2013 and while much of their medicine was poor, simply being cared for tends to improve survival rates and those who survived naturally had great affection for the Christians who nursed them.<\/p>\n
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