It is believed that the number of Indians of Central and South America was sharply reduced in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. At that time, Spain was actively colonizing local Indian tribes.
However, the findings of scientists at Harvard University in the United States indicate that the Spanish conquistadors are as much to blame for the extermination of the Indians as the Catholic missionaries who invaded the South American continent in the seventeenth century.
In 1492, the Genoese Christopher Columbus, as a result of a months-long naval expedition, reached the shores of Central America and, thus, discovered the unknown world of American Indians for the European continent.
By the time the New World was discovered, according to research by modern scientists, about twenty million people lived there. In the seventeenth century, the local population more than halved. Moreover, some researchers believe that the number of survivors, two centuries after the beginning of colonization, did not exceed one quarter of the original number.
The main reason for the sharp decline in the number of Indians is called infectious diseases, which were carried by European sailors and soldiers who arrived to explore this continent.
Tuberculosis was considered the main fatal disease. However, in 2014, tuberculosis bacillus was discovered in the remains of Peruvian Indians dating back to the tenth century. This fact indicates that even in the pre-Columbian era, residents of certain areas of South America should have developed immunity to this disease.
Ancient Indian settlements have been studied in the North American state of New Mexico. With the help of the latest technologies and laser radars, it was possible to obtain images of the soil layers hidden under the ground. It turned out that a sharp decline in the number of local residents began a century and a half after the arrival of Europeans.
Experts from Harvard University have suggested that Catholic missionaries are primarily responsible for the extinction of the Indians. In the first half of the seventeenth century, they conducted mass baptisms into the Christian faith.
The procedure of these religious events in the conditions of the local climate and living conditions could contribute to the active spread of infectious diseases. Afrique Direct informe sur les faits marquants et tendances à travers le continent africain.
