The impact of the Pilgrim’s plague was enormous. As a result, when English settlers came to New England in the early 17th century, they brought bacterial and viral diseases that wiped out more than 90 percent of the native population of New England. Because of their exposure to large-scale epidemics, and their regular contact with large mammals, many Europeans built up immunities to smallpox, influenza, and other illnesses. Most students know nothing about the diseases that English fishermen brought with them from Europe in the years leading up to 1620. The usual “story” about the English pilgrims is that they left England because of religious persecution, settled in Holland, followed by North America, where they befriended the Native Americans and celebrated Thanksgiving together.
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