<story><title>The Black Death: The Greatest Catastrophe (2005)</title><url>http://www.historytoday.com/ole-j-benedictow/black-death-greatest-catastrophe-ever</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>nxzero</author><text>Related topic is the &amp;quot;Great Dying&amp;quot; which killed the majority of Native Americans:&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.pbs.org&amp;#x2F;gunsgermssteel&amp;#x2F;variables&amp;#x2F;smallpox.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.pbs.org&amp;#x2F;gunsgermssteel&amp;#x2F;variables&amp;#x2F;smallpox.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;Of note is how smallpox was used as a weapon:&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt;&amp;gt; &amp;quot;You will do well to try to inoculate the Indians, by means of blankets, as well as to try every other method that can serve to extirpate this execrable race.&amp;quot; — Jeffery Amherst&lt;p&gt;Sources:&lt;p&gt;Disease as a weapon against Native Americans
&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.m.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Native_American_disease_and_epidemics&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.m.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Native_American_disease_and_...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;Smallpox Blankets
&lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;cherokeeregistry.com&amp;#x2F;index.php?option=com_content&amp;amp;view=article&amp;amp;id=407&amp;amp;Itemid=617&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;cherokeeregistry.com&amp;#x2F;index.php?option=com_content&amp;amp;vie...&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>The Black Death: The Greatest Catastrophe (2005)</title><url>http://www.historytoday.com/ole-j-benedictow/black-death-greatest-catastrophe-ever</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>BorisVSchmid</author><text>&amp;quot;Published in History TodayVolume 55 Issue 3 March 2005&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;The article is a bit old, and misses out on the large amount of genetic evidence since then sequenced and analyzed. Cui et al found that the closest living relatives to the Black Death stem from north-west China. That is about the only evidence we have on where the Black Death came from, and it does point to an origin in or near China.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.pnas.org&amp;#x2F;content&amp;#x2F;110&amp;#x2F;2&amp;#x2F;577.figures-only&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.pnas.org&amp;#x2F;content&amp;#x2F;110&amp;#x2F;2&amp;#x2F;577.figures-only&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>