PLYMOUTH (AP) – A disease outbreak that wiped out large numbers of the Native inhabitants of what is now New England gave the Pilgrims a beachhead in the “New World.”
So, some historians find it ironic that a pandemic has put many of the 400th anniversary commemorations of the Mayflower’s landing on hold.
Disease introduced by European settlers and traders — either by happenstance or intention — is believed by many to have played an important role in the conquest of Native people.
Wampanoag medicine man Troy Currence sees the current pandemic as a sign that the world is out of balance.