Viruses Change History
As the great Spanish conquistador Cortez marched through Mexico, he encountered a powerful civilization, the Aztecs.
The Aztecs were estimated to be around 16 million people at the time, Cortes only had 500 men. He recruited another 500 disgruntled Aztecs and proceeded to the main city of the Aztec empire, Tenochtitlan.
There the Aztec ruler, Montezuma, greeted them with honor, but Cortes in turn captured Montezuma.
He proceeded to fight for the entire capital for the next two years and won.
How did a little band of 500 soldiers conquer the center of a powerful civilization and its 200,000 inhabitants?
Viruses.
Upon Cortes’ arrival, the Aztec empire was devastated with a disease that was previously unknown to them. Smallpox.
It is said that Cortes and his soldiers couldn’t march through the streets of the Aztec empire without stepping over the bodies of smallpox victims.
If the death rate of the Inca’s a short time later is any indicator, it is estimated that 60% to 90% of the Aztec population eventually died from the disease.
Their bodies didn’t know how to handle this new disease and they had no natural biological defenses set up against it.
Cortes was able to claim victory for Spain over the Aztecs, but much of history remembers that the smallpox was what defeated this great civilization.
The Bible states that God too topples nations throughout history.
23 He makes nations great, and destroys them; he enlarges nations, and disperses them.24 He deprives the leaders of the earth of their reason; he makes them wander in a trackless waste.- Job 12:23-24In Psalm David talks of just God lifting his voice making nations fall and the earth melt.
Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts.- Psalm 46:6History explains many things away with practical reasoning, but often hidden from the scene is God at work.
Just like the smallpox virus overthrew the Aztecs and allowed Cortes to topple their empire, so God is working behind the scenes changing and affecting history.