CORONADO

European view of disease

Herman J. Viola, Carolyn Margolis, eds., Seeds of change: a quincentennial commemoration, (Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1991), p. 223:

While Europeans had a vague notion of the contagious nature of some diseases, illness more commonly was attributed to astrological phenomena, curses, personal and moral dissoluteness, and, above all, divine retribution upon sinful man.

The Pilgrim view

pp. 86-87:

… an early nineteenth-century clergyman [speaking] on the precipitous decrease of New England Indians since the first coming of the English: ‘Must we not ascribe it to the sovereign pleasure of the Most High, who divides to the nations their inheritance; who putteth down one and raiseth up another?’ Both invaders and the invaded may have found this idea plausible.

The Indian view

p. 222:

It was widely believed [among the Aztecs] that disease was sent by the gods or was the result of sorcery...

And there they were, watching their whole society fall apart while the newcomers didn’t seem to have any such problem. Not just the people, but their religious leaders lost faith in their gods and switched to Christianity: Maybe there wasn’t the same degree of calamity the other places Europeans went, like Africa and China, but in America the Indians surrendered not only politically but also religiously. European missionaries never got the job done  (lyrics) anywhere besides in America.

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