Records of the Missions of Baja California in the Form

Essay

Records of the missions of Baja California in the form of baptisms and burial records provide an ideal opportunity to examine the consequences of what is known as the "Colombian Exchange," the movement of organisms large and small between the Old and New Worlds after the appearance of Columbus in 1492. The data below are two time series of the numbers of baptisms at two Central Baja missions, San Jose de Comondu and San Gertrudis. The data are for the decade 1770 - 1779. (a)How would you generally describe the trend of baptisms for the two missions over this period? Do the missions appear to show similar trends? Justify your response by appealing to the graph.
(b)One of the influences of the meeting of the Old and New Worlds was the transmission of diseases to the native populations, who had developed no natural immunity from European diseases. If there were anecdotal evidence for an outbreak of disease during this time, which mission and what year seems to be the most likely candidate? Again, justify your response by appealing to the graph.