S8 Ep1123: Headline: Mosquito Empires and the Ecology of the Slave Trade Guest: Professor Peter Frankopan Book Title: The Earth Transformed: An Untold History Frankopan discusses the "mosquito empires" of the 17th and 18th centuries, where malaria and yellow fever d

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John Batchelor

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🗓️ 13 July 2026

⏱️ 10 minutes

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Headline: Mosquito Empires and the Ecology of the Slave Trade Guest: Professor Peter Frankopan Book Title:The Earth Transformed: An Untold History Frankopan discusses the "mosquito empires" of the 17th and 18th centuries, where malaria and yellow fever dictated colonial limits. West Africa became known as the "white man's grave" due to high European mortality rates. Ironically, the transatlantic slave trade was partially driven by the genetic resistance to malaria found in some West African populations, making them "desirable" to colonizers for labor in malarial zones like North Carolina. The prosperity of Great Britain was built upon this exploitative African trade, alongside the extraction of silver, sugar, and tobacco from the Americas. Frankopan notes that new crops like potatoes and cassava also allowed for higher calorie provision, further fueling these labor forces. Furthermore, he touches upon the "Great Divergence," noting that Britain's eventual global dominance required the creation of resilient institutions and a powerful navy. Interestingly, the decline of indigenous populations in the Americas led to a period of significant reforestation and atmospheric change in the 1600s. (5)
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0:00.0	This is CBS Eye on the World with John Batchel. Here's John Batchelor.
0:12.1	The Earth transformed an untold history by Professor Peter Frankapad of Oxford University, a professor of global history, the mosquito empires of the
0:24.4	period that we reach to in North America as well as Africa, as well as Asia, the mosquito
0:31.3	empires, the limits of malaria, aka yellow fever. I learned from the professor that in this period of exploitation of
0:40.5	nature and mankind, after in the 17th and 18th century, the limits of the people to survive
0:49.0	in mosquito empires define their ability to respond to the politics in Europe and also the
0:57.0	opportunities in the new world. Professor, the malaria story is one that I did not ever think of
1:04.1	as a limitation on the Europeans. Did they themselves see it that way? Yes, they did.
1:14.9	In common parlance, West Africa was known as the white man's grave.
1:20.8	So short were life expectancies when many Europeans tried to reach West Africa.
1:23.8	And one of the challenges was around disease environments.
1:30.1	Ironically, what happened in the case of transatlantic slavery was that many of the peoples who are being transported, of course, against their well in horrific conditions, bonded forever
1:36.0	and their progeny too, were so desirable, particularly after the 1617, 18, 1680s, was because not all, but some populations in West Africa
1:47.8	contain genetic mutations that give genetic resistance to malaria, or at least provide 90% resistance to malaria.
1:56.2	And that mutation meant that their survivability in malarial areas, which has been passed down from
2:02.6	generation to generation for several thousand years, made them extremely resilient in exposed
2:08.5	malarial zones, both in West Africa, but also in the Americas once malaria became established
2:12.9	in the late 17th century. And we can see the horrors of this because the prices of people who came from
2:18.9	zones with high malarial resistance are higher than from others. So there was no idea, I think,
2:24.7	about the science at the time amongst those buying and selling people's lives. But there was an
2:29.3	understanding that for some reason, some types of people in some areas were more hardy and more and more able to
2:36.7	cope with disease. And of course, I suppose if you want to put it very crudely, they're racially
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