is thought to have been brought to the Bantu-speaking tribes of Africa by either the Jews after one of their many expulsions from European countries, or by Muslim Moors escaping after the 1492 reconquest of Spain. In the second half of the first millennium CE, inhabitants from the North East of Africa moved south and encountered groups from Arabia, the Middle East, and West Africa. These people moved south and formed what is known today as the Bantu. Bantu tribes were observed to be upholding what was described as Jewish law, including circumcision, in the 16th century. Circumcision and elements of Jewish dietary restrictions are still found among Bantu tribes. Indigenous peoples Circumcision is practiced by some groups amongst Australian Aboriginal peoples, Polynesians, and Native Americans. Little information is available about the origins and history of circumcision among these peoples, compared to circumcision in the Middle East. For Aboriginal Australians and Polynesians, circumcision likely started as a blood sacrifice and a test of bravery and became an initiation rite with attendant instruction in manhood in more recent centuries. Often seashells were used to remove the foreskin, and the bleeding was stopped with eucalyptus smoke. Christopher Columbus reported circumcision being practiced by Native Americans. It probably started among South American tribes as a blood sacrifice or ritual to test bravery and endurance, and its use later evolved into a rite of initiation. Prophylactic circumcision Anglophonic adoption (1855–1918) Circumcision began to be advocated as a means of prophylaxis in 1855, primarily as a means of preventing the transmission of sexually transmitted infections. At this time, renowned British physician Jonathan Hutchinson published his findings that Jews had a lower prevalence of certain venereal diseases in the city of London, particularly that of syphilis. Hutchinson suggested that circumcision acted as an effective means against contracting sexually transmitted disease. Pursuing a successful career as a general practitioner, Hutchinson went on to advocate circumcision for health reasons for the next fifty years, eventually earned a knighthood for his overall contributions to medicine. His viewpoint that circumcision was prophylactic against disease was adopted by other medical professionals of the time. In 1870, the influential orthopedic surgeon Lewis Sayre, a founder of the American Medical Association, introduced circumcision in the United States as a purported cure for several cases of young boys presenting with paralysis and other significant gross motor problems. He thought the procedure ameliorated such problems