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People did not really believe the world was flat hundreds of years ago.

Similarly the “new” world was in regular contact with the old for the last several thousand years. It’s only 53 miles from North America to Asia, even less if you include the two islands between them.

PS: We have a lot of ideas about how wrong people used to be. But, I suspect most people never really formed an option on most of this stuff because they never really considered the question.



If they were in regular contact, why did smallpox have such a devastating effect on Americans?


Population density. Smallpox dies out with lot’s of tiny isolated communities with minimal contact to each other.


Regular contact here means "there were people who could have made the journey between Asia and Americas, yet we don't have any proof and its effect on both societies is pretty much non-existent"


Specific people no, but genetics shows connections beyond culture.


"Similarly the “new” world was in regular contact with the old for the last several thousand years. It’s only 53 miles from North America to Asia, even less if you include the two islands between them."

That's an interesting idea. Do you have a reference or materials that talks about this?




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