I've been thinking about malaria and the lack of it. Specifically, I've been thinking about Charles Mann's 1493 and what he wrote about southeastern England becoming malarial when swamps were partly drained. Earlier, the swamps were regularly washed by salt water which came in during high tide and killed off mosquito larvae. When partially drained, the swamps got separated from the sea and so mosquito populations boomed, and malaria became endemic in England during Shakespeare's time.
Now, I wonder what could change to allow for malarial zones to shrink or grow in certain areas of the world. Human activity or very mild geological POD's could drastically change where malaria occurs. For example, I was thinking that in the southeastern United States where malaria was a major problem, and slowed down European settlement. However, what if you got a stretch of coastline where there were semi-saltwater swamps, which acted as a malarial prophylactic-and some Europeans settled near it, but managed to avoid destroying it? It could create a gateway to the interior, speeding up European settlement in the area and, potentially, give a nation other than England an early edge in North America.
Anyone have any other thoughts how changes in malarial zones could be achieved, and where?
Now, I wonder what could change to allow for malarial zones to shrink or grow in certain areas of the world. Human activity or very mild geological POD's could drastically change where malaria occurs. For example, I was thinking that in the southeastern United States where malaria was a major problem, and slowed down European settlement. However, what if you got a stretch of coastline where there were semi-saltwater swamps, which acted as a malarial prophylactic-and some Europeans settled near it, but managed to avoid destroying it? It could create a gateway to the interior, speeding up European settlement in the area and, potentially, give a nation other than England an early edge in North America.
Anyone have any other thoughts how changes in malarial zones could be achieved, and where?