Infectious diseases introduced with Europeans, like smallpox and measles, spread from one Indian tribe to another, far in advance of Europeans themselves, and killed an estimated 95% of the New World's Indian population.

F. 2005 Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. PMID 3762700.

Originally trained in physiology Diamond's work is known for drawing from a variety of fields including anthropology ecology geography and evolutionary biology. He is currently Professor of Geography at the University of California Los Angeles.