Hi everybody, some of you might remember a TL I started up about a year ago, called Empire of a Hundred Millennia, in which the extinction of the mosquito in Africa causes human civilization to begin early, along the Congo river. I'm planning to tentatively start the thread up again, but I'm planning on doing it in a slightly different style (basically, I'm going to do it as transcripts from TTL Discovery Channel programs).
Since totally rewriting human history is a slightly ambitious undertaking, I was wondering what you all think could be the consequences of malaria no longer being an issue in Africa. Important to note, though, is that malaria will still exist in other tropical environments, and the tsetse fly is still an issue.
At this point, I want to brainstorm pretty fundamental questions, like:
I'm not asking you guys to do my work for me, but this is such a broad topic that I'd like to hear as many opinions as possible before rushing in headlong, like I did last time.
Since totally rewriting human history is a slightly ambitious undertaking, I was wondering what you all think could be the consequences of malaria no longer being an issue in Africa. Important to note, though, is that malaria will still exist in other tropical environments, and the tsetse fly is still an issue.
At this point, I want to brainstorm pretty fundamental questions, like:
- Would the absence of malaria potentially cause civilization to develop early, through higher population levels?
- What time periods would be the most interesting for this to happen in? The Last Glacial Maximum, where most of the African jungle was grasslands and savannah, and the world geography was radically different; or at a closer time period where the Sahara was verdant and arable?
- What would happen to Last Glacial Maximum civilizations as the ice caps began their natural retreat, and sea levels began to dramatically rise?
- Could other human species survive in such a timeline?
I'm not asking you guys to do my work for me, but this is such a broad topic that I'd like to hear as many opinions as possible before rushing in headlong, like I did last time.
