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Mario Santiago Vargas
History 1301
Dr. Andrew Yox

DRAFT

A race spoiled by progress, with wishes of gaining more power, not that it was needed, a bit of luck and the crazy idea about the world being round floating about Christopher Columbus’ head, is how the Americas were given the spotlight. The credulous Indians feared the newcomers, they treated the Spanish as a deity, however alot was taken from the Indian people, not only their possessions but their customs, their beliefs, their freedom, and their lives. What did they give in return?

The Taino was the first tribe that the Spanish encountered and as written by Columbus on his diary “gave us everything they had, with good will. They took great delight in pleasing us. They are very gentle and without knowledge ofwhat is evil; nor do they murder or steal. Your highness may believe that in all the world there can be no better people”. Indians believed in honor and kindness, they found joy on being nice to others, just like it should be. But they were mistaken; this monster wanted to take everything and would not stop until they got what they wanted.

Right after Columbus’ first voyage had broughthim prosperity and a reason to make more trips, he went back to Spain to tell the Catholic Monarchs the good news; they saw what Columbus had brought back; gold, exotic animals, and a small group of Indians, they were malicious and saw an opportunity here to expand their kingdom and make a bigger fortune out of these peoples.

King Ferdinand II, and Queen Isabella I, content of seeing thatthey had done right on trusting Christopher, although it took him 5 years to convince them, decided to sponsor a second trip, this time with a larger number of ships, 17, and a much bigger armed force, 1500 men armed with cannons, guns, crossbows. Not to mention the animal force that included, horses and trained dogs. And just like that, even after seeing how vulnerable and non-threatening theIndians were, the Monarchs still authorized the conquest of the Bahamas, which was the first Island that Columbus landed on. They did not care that it was someone else’s home they were about to take; they did not even think about a way so both races could profit from this discovery. Brutality and greed opened the Indian door so death could come in and enjoy itself.

Columbus was made governorand used the natives as slaves for agriculture and to mine gold for the Kings, he came in and made the Indians feed him and give him their possessions, and if they refused, they would get killed. He started asking for a tribute that consisted of gold or if this lacked then cotton. He even tried to profit out of Indians by selling them as slaves in Spain. Ruthless and selfish was the Spanishresponse to the Indians hospitality, but what else could the Indians do, they were scared ever since they saw human and horse become one, they did not know what to do when they saw how the Spanish were dressed.

Some of the different tribes around the Bahamas and the Hispanola (what now is Haiti and the Dominican Republic) tried to stand against the new comers, very few stone arrows and Indianvalor did not stand a chance against the conquistadores, battle after battle, the Indians tried to regain what was rightfully theirs. But the Spaniard’s “intelligence” and advanced weaponry made it impossible for the Indians to defend their homeland, or at least to keep it theirs anyways. The Taino were tortured and abused; some of them would crack and refuse to the Spanish, which was the same assuicide. They even killed their children, so that way they would not have to suffer a not very promising future.

Up to this point, that is, the last decade of the 15th century, the Spanish have only brought death and suffering to the Indian people. But around the corner, as the Spanish got deeper in the new continent, new plagues arrived, diseases unknown to the Natives that disabled and...