Apparently a lot of hot dishes in India and Asia that are now made with chili peppers were originally made with black pepper before chili peppers were spread from the Americas. Chili peppers just filled the role better and supplanted it in them.

Also weirdly I'm very desensitized to capsaicin but not piperine, so I perceive a similar heat between a mild pepper like a habenero and something with enough black pepper to be spicy.