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African Americans During The Columbian Exchange

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The Europeans and the Jesuits unknowing brought much more than economic interests and the word of God. They brought with them disease, which in time will lead to major epidemics in the New World. This becomes a major obstacle to their work with the Indians. As if the death of the Native Americans were not bad enough, the Jesuits face a religious problem as well. During the epidemic, the Jesuits would baptize the ill taking comfort in the fact that the dead are brought to eternal life. The Indians did not quite share this view. Sadly, the Indians came to believe that baptism was associated with death and not the Catholic association of death into new life. In the Annual Letter of 1592, the writer expressed, “On the one hand it is a great

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