People of Afro-Caribbean descent can suffer from sickle-cell disease. It was an advantage for European slave-owners in the Americas to use African slaves because of this natural protection.
Europeans and other people from temperate climates have no protection against malaria and therefore do not suffer from sickle-cell disease. They were unable to penetrate the interior of Africa without risk until the development of the Quinine industry, through the work of Manuel Incra Mamani and others.
21 Nov 2004