Mann discusses the effects of malaria on development in the New World. Beginning with a bit of detective work—Mann finds evidence that early Spanish explorers contracted malaria in the memoirs of Cristóbal Colón (Christopher Columbus)—Mann argues that the debilitating effects of malaria, which was brought by Europeans and spread throughout much of North America, led European colonizers to create “extractive states.” These were developments in which indigenous labor, deemed expendable, was used to extract raw materials from regions that the disease made largely uninhabitable for Europeans.
After a detailed explanation of how malaria affects the body, illustrated by seventeenth-century descriptions of malaria attacks, Mann describes the prevalence of malaria in England in the 17th and 18th centuries, and cites the disease as a possible reason for much immigration to the New World (he cites historian David Hacker Fischer’s claim that 60% of the first wave of English emigrants were from the malarial East and Southeast of England). As a result, malaria spread to the Chesapeake Bay region by the 1620s, and the disease’s progress was helped by clearing land for agriculture, which created many prime habitats for mosquito breeding. In fact, malaria was so common among new immigrants that Virginia governor George Yeardley advised London investors that they should not expect much work from new hands until they were “seasoned,” i.e., had overcome their first bout of malaria.
Mann suggests that endemic diseases like malaria were a prime factor in England becoming the largest slave trading economy in the 17th century. “For Europeans,” he writes, “the economic logic was hard to ignore. If they wanted to grow tobacco, rice, or sugar, they were better off using Africa slaves than European indentured servants or Indian slaves” due to the greater resistance of the slaves to the effects of malaria.
Mann takes the first portion of this chapter to trace the letters of Cristóbal Colón as he chronicled his voyages to the Americas. On his second voyage, Colón recounts the landing of his people on La Isabela. There was much rain which brought on fever and chills. Mann first puts this down to Tertian fever and later to çiçiones, a disease that was difficult for Mann to research as it appeared to be an archaic term. At the end of the day, Mann believes that Colón's letters were indeed describing the ravages of malaria. Mann believes the disease was brought from Europe and did not begin in the New World.
The chapter then turns to malaria's effects on America, specifically the tobacco plantations in Virginia. The sugar plantations also suffered the ill effects of this endemic disease. Mann concludes that malaria is still responsible for many deaths around the globe.
Chapter 3, "Evil Air," is about the effects of malaria in the New World. The disease became endemic in the New World, and Mann traces the consequences of malaria. As Mann writes, the disease "turned the Americas upside down" (page 103). Malaria caused high rates of mortality, and Mann states that the areas that were once the locations of high rates of malaria are still less well developed and poorer today, as Europeans used these areas as "extractive states" (page 103) from which to draw natural resources but not as areas in which to establish permanent institutions.
In the latter part of the chapter, Mann develops the argument that malaria was one of the reasons colonial America turned to slavery. After long relying on enslaving Native Americans and becoming an exporter rather than an importer of slaves, colonies such as Virginia turned to chattel slavery and the enslavement of Africans in part because malaria decimated Native American and white populations alike. While at first, colonies such as Virginia and what would become South Carolina relied on Native American labor and that of indentured servants, the effect of malaria on these populations resulted in the turn to enslaving Africans. While the exact date that malaria arrived in the New World is still debated, Mann believes that there is no doubt that malaria is "a historical force that deformed cultures" (page 116).
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