The Yellow Demon of Fever

As the slave trade brought Europeans, Africans, and Americans into contact, diseases were traded along with human lives. Manuel Barcia examines the battle waged against disease, where traders and planters fought against loss of profits while enslaved Africans fought for survival. Although efforts to control disease and stop epidemics from spreading brought little success, the medical knowledge generated by slaves, slave traders, plantation owners, and doctors contributed to momentous change in the medical cultures of the Atlantic world.