Discovering the AmericasShame on Columbus

Warm UpWho was Christopher Columbus?

What did he do?

Setting the stage Spain had recently become unified, similar to France and

England. The population mostly consisted of poor peasants who

worked for the nobility which were only 2% of the population but owned 95% of the land. (sound familiar?)

Spain linked itself to the Catholic Church and then drove out all the Jews and Moors. The Spanish Inquisition ("(Keep Feeling) Fascination" by The Human League) - YouTube

Spain wanted GOLD. They believed there was gold in Asia and wanted to set out to find it. However, they could not do it by land and had to do it by sea.

They were in need of a sailor and Columbus was their man for the job.

Columbus was promised 10% percent of profits of what he found, governorship of new land, and a new title Admiral of the Ocean Sea.

Columbus’ Credentials Merchant’s clerk in Genoa, Italy Part time weaver Expert Sailor On his first expedition in 1492, he took 3 ships, the Nina,

Pinta, and Santa Maria. Santa Maria was the largest of the 3 but also the slowest.

Columbus estimated Asia to be much closer than it actually was and his estimate was thousands of miles off. He would never had made it to Asia with the ships he had.

The Americas were 1/4th the distance to Asia which was very fortunate for Columbus.

The first person to spot land would receive a yearly pension of 10,000 maravedis. A sailor named Rodrigo spotted a beach on an island in the Bahamas but Columbus said he saw it the night before which meant he received the pension. (shame on Columbus)

Meeting the neighbors When Columbus and the crew land, they are greeted by

Arawaks. The Arawaks lived in village communities, grew corn, yams,

and cassava. They could spin and weave cloth. They wore gold in their ears which creates enormous

problems for them. Why?

Finders Keepers Columbus kidnapped some of the Arawaks and demanded

they take him to the gold. He believed there were fields of gold waiting for him.

There wasn’t gold like he imagined, only tiny bits. He reported back to the king and queen that there were tons

of gold and the natives make great slaves. Spain sent 17 ships this time with the mission to get gold and slaves.

The ships began to island hop but news spread of the Spaniards intentions. Natives would run and hide making it difficult for the Spanish to capture them. One slave raid captured 1,500 men, women, and children. Of

that total, there were 500 of the best chosen. These 500 were taken back to Spain but 200 died on the voyage.

Most slaves died in captivity which meant that slaves were not as prosperous as Columbus had thought.

Paying Bills Columbus had promised ships full of gold and he was set on

doing that. Since selling slaves was not as lucrative as he thought, he

decided to use them on the islands to gather gold. In Haiti, all people over the age of 14 had to gather a certain

amount of gold per 3 months. Once they met their quota, they were given a copper token to wear around their necks which ensured their safety. If you did not meet your quota, then your hand was chopped off and you bled to death.

Arawaks began to have mass suicides by using cassava poison. Infants were killed in order to save them from the Spaniards.

Once the Spanish realize there is no gold, they take the slaves to work on large estates known as encomiendas. They are worked to death and die by the thousands.

By 1650 there are no original Arawaks or their descendants.

Every man and woman, every boy or girl offourteen or older, in the province of Cibao... had to collect gold for the Spaniards. Astheir measure, the Spaniards used ... hawks’bells. ... Every three months, every [Taíno]had to bring to one of the forts a hawks’ bellfilled with gold dust. The chiefs had to bringin about ten times that amount. In the otherprovinces of Hispaniola, twenty-five poundsof spun cotton took the place of gold.Copper tokens were manufactured, andwhen a [Taíno] had brought his or hertribute to an armed post, he or she receivedsuch a token, stamped with the month, to behung around the neck. With that they were safe for another three months while collecting more gold.

Whoever was caught without a token waskilled by having his or her hands cut off ...There were no gold fields, and thus, once the[Taínos] had handed in whatever they stillhad in gold ornaments, their only hope wasto work all day in the streams, washing outgold dust from the pebbles. It was an impossibletask, but those Taínos who tried toflee into the mountains were systematicallyhunted down with dogs and killed, to set anexample for the others to keep trying. ...During those two years of the administrationof the brothers Columbus, an estimatedone half of the entire population ofHispaniola was killed or killed themselves.The estimates run from one hundred andtwenty-five thousand to one-half million.

Columbus T-Chart

How he is usually portrayed. What actually happened.