Answer:
The correct answer is B) It was an unintended consequence of contact between the New World and the Old World.
Explanation:
It is widely agreed that viral diseases such as smallpox from the Old world had a fatal impact on Native populations. However, it was never a deliberate act on part of Columbus or his crew. In fact, they would have had no knowledge of how these diseases could kill so many people.
He purely describes it as an 'untended consequences of two worlds meeting for the first time and nature taking its course.
By some estimates, more than a million people died from diseases both in South and North America. Historically, this greatly helped the Spanish build their Empire in the region but, again, this was not done on purpose.
