Stuck out in the north Atlantic, these communities were too small and remote to sustain infectious diseases in the same way as mainland Europe. Maladies like smallpox were endemic in late-medieval Spain. They constantly circulated among the vast population of Eurasia and Africa, so most children would be exposed and either die or develop immunity. But the same diseases were epidemic in the north Atlantic island colonies; they would periodically arrive on the ships that sailed from Denmark and Norway, infect anyone who wasn’t immune, then burn themselves out when there wasn’t anyone else to
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