Analysis Of J. R. Mcneil's Moosquito Empires

J.R. McNeil 's Mosquito Empires: Ecology and War in the Greater Caribbean,1620-1914 is an attempt to explore imperial ambitions and colonial endeavors through the employ of an environmental history framework. McNeil 's argument is that the presence of disease carrying mosquitos was a determining factor in the establishment of colonial populations and European powers in the Caribbean. Through meticulous analysis of travel and medical accounts he reconstructs how environmental factors such as climate, the sugar cane industry, immigration of monkey populations, and population demographic and density would combine to create the ideal breeding ground for mosquitos. McNeil asserts that imperial ventures could be thwarted or sustained as armies, already

Galenic practices that originated in the second century were still the predominant medical concepts almost fourteen hundred years later, and with little advancement beyond the humoral theory that promoted exsanguinations as cure, they further weakening those afflicted with fever and assured they did not survive. The chapter entitled Deadly Fevers, Deadly Doctors is, by McNeill’s own admission, rife with modern criticism and judgment that, “are not up to the standards of the historical profession” (63). That being said, the humor he injects in this chapter keeps the reader from setting aside what could easily devolve into a depressing clinical narrative of the brutish death that accompanied yellow fever. The tone may not be up to academic standards, but the research is, at least for the European contribution. Whether one agrees with his arguments or not, McNeil has proven the relevance of disease study in attempts to reconstruct historical contexts. The main take away from this chapter is that the confusion surrounding the transmission of diseases is part of the reason armies were sent over and over again in spite of the infectious disaster that repeatedly cut through the ranks, at great expense both in men and in

However, this discussion is missing a key element as McNeil fails to analyze the role women and reproduction played in this cycle of death. Colonial populations who had little to no women were not able to pass any immunity to these diseases to a new generation. So if a colonial population was declining, new men who had never been exposed to these diseases were sent over to ensure it could be defended and work could continue. These new men often restarted the epidemic cycle by easily contracting and then spreading the contagions. Therefore, investigating the absence of women in these populations would further explain why these epidemics reoccurred over generations and how these epidemics effected the success of imperial powers in the