Through the discovery of the New World and its inhabitants, theologists were in a quandary, which they tried to overcome in various ways. Thus the doctrine came about that there were other ancestors besides Adam in other parts of the world. Grand Inquisitor Tomás de Torquemada believed that humans and animals had been carried by angels across the ocean. And still others, such as the Jesuit priest Joseph-François Lafitau, simply denied that the Indians were ever created by God - only atheists could make such a claim.
Source: tatoeba (7872168)