(CNN) When Europeans arrived in the Americas, they caused so much death and disease that it changed the global climate, a new study finds. Columbus arrived in 1492"CO2 and climate had been relatively stable until this point," said UCL Geography Professor Mark Maslin, one of the study's co-authors. Before this study, some scientists had argued the temperature change in the 1600s, called the Little Ice Age, was caused only by natural forces. The implicationsThe implications of the study go beyond climate science and also contribute to research in geography and history, Maslin said, noting that deaths of indigenous Americans directly contributed to the success of the European economy. "The really weird thing is, the depopulation of the Americas may have inadvertently allowed the Europeans to dominate the world," Maslin said.

Source: CNN February 01, 2019 11:48 UTC