Every time I read articles like this I think back to an interesting little novel by Orson Scott Card that explored how history would be different if Christopher Columbus had not discovered the new world. The story postulates that without the diseases introduced by the Europeans, the Aztec & Co. cultures would rise to dominance in North America. It also raises the question - What's worse? A period of human slavery that followed European colonization? Or widespread human sacrifice? Very provocative.
Sounds interesting, what's the name of the book?