Use the passage to answer the question.
although scholars debate the exact numbers, in alvin josephy’s estimate, the indian population fell from between 15 and 20 million when the white man first arrived to a fraction of that 150 years later. undoubtedly, the indians perished in great numbers. yet although european enslavement of indians and the spanish forced labor system extracted a heavy toll in lives, the vast majority of indian casualties occurred not as a result of hard labor or deliberate destruction. –from “the crimes of christopher columbus,” dinesh d'souza, 1995
which of the following statements about the effects of the columbian exchange can be supported by evidence in this article?
a) europeans deliberately killed between 15 and 20 million indians.
b) europeans committed genocide against native americans.
c) contagious diseases spread to both europe and the americas.
d) tuberculosis was responsible for most indian deaths.