When Columbus and his men originally landed on the Islands of the Bahamas the native Arawak people where of the first to greet them they even swam out to meet Columbus. The anxious Arawak people treated him and his men exceptionally well. The Arawaks adorned the men with with gifts of cotton amongst other goods. They were very peaceful, known for their hospitality, and traded their own goods with the sailors. Hospitality however, may not have been the best approach on the Arawak’s behalf. There are many reasons as to why Columbus led to the downfall of these people. First remember that Columbus was sent to the island on the behalf of Spain who was looking for gold, new land, and other goods (perhaps slaves). The Arawak people did not have much but made earing like jewelry out of …show more content…
Columbus then began to see the opportunities that would fallow from enslaving the Arawaks. With a greed for gold Columbus abducted some of the Arawak’s and left them with no choice but to sail with him to Cuba. In Cuba they found rivers laced with gold and because of Columbus’s reports back to Spain they soon set out on a second excursion but this time with more men and seventeen ships. Their mission this time was very clear, they wanted gold and slaves. Now with their base set up in Haiti they needed to fill the ships. Their answer to the unused ship space was the great slave raid. Columbus and his men gathered up fifteen hundred Arawak men, women, and children. Of the fifteen hundred Arawaks five hundred were chosen to be taken back as slaves. While on this journey two hundred Arawak people died and the three hundred remaining Arawaks where put up for sale. What I found to be most disbursing and probably most detrimental to the Arawak population was mass killings practiced amongst them selves. The Arawak people where faced with no other choice than to become slaves or kill themselves in order to save
Columbus sold the natives of Arawak tribe from what now called Haiti when he and his crew member found that there was no gold to bring back to the king and queen. In Chapter 1 of Columbus, the Indians, and Human Progression by Zinn it states that “In the year 1495, they went on a great slave raid, rounded up fifteen hundred Arawak men, women, and
S2:Columbus uncounted the arawaks people witch were very peaceful and friendly. Columbus saw their gold ornaments so he took some of the arawaks captive to show him were the source of gold
Christopher Columbus account on the meeting of the Arawak for the first time consists of many tragic events in history. However, there are two different points of view that should be considered upon the opinion of Christopher himself, and Bartolome de Las Casas. Comparing and contrasting the two documents one can truly see that the truth would always come to light. In Christopher Columbus voyage, he had mentioned that the Native Americans were nothing more than loving as they were willing to give as much as they could without any resentment. As they were always lavish with everything in their possession. In the second passage, Bartolome de Las Casas has also indicated that the Indians were rational and wise individuals. They never had any desire or feeling of hate toward another
Chapter one in Columbus, The Indians, and Human Progress by Howard Zinn tells about the adventures of explorer Christopher Columbus and his journey to the Americas. The way Zinn portrays the events of Columbus arriving in the Americas is solely focused on making the Arawak Indians look like the victims; something different than the way any other historian might tell it. He makes it seem that the Spanish conquers are greedy and cruel while the Indians are all generous and innocent and then continues to talk about exactly how cruel the Spaniards were to the indigenous people, like working them to death or killing them for the fun of it. Personally, I don’t completely agree with Zinn’s viewpoints due to the fact that he never mentions anything
In the book talk about how Columbus landed on the Bahama islands where he met Indian tribe called the Arawak’s. The Arawak’s were willing to share their food, weapons, and other thing that will help the English men survived on the islands. Columbus thought otherwise in the book it states “With fifty men we could subjugate them and make them do whatever we want”. How can a
During its time, Columbus not only terrorized the natives but would affect them in the long run by helping introduce diseases. When Columbus discovered this land and told the news of how much there was to settle and conquer, colonizers quickly wanted to travel and experience this new world for themselves. This led to many people coming and colonizing the new land, bringing with them disease, which was unfortunate for the natives since this would lead to their population to
Unfortunately Columbus did anything but return the favor. He took many of them as prisoners in hopes that they would be able to give him information as too where gold may be. The Spaniards and Columbus would make the natives work for months of end and the Arawak husbands and wives would only see each other once every eight months or so. The way these people were treated was abusive, and all of it was inflicted upon them by Columbus and the Spaniards that were along with him. The natives died by the thousands. For example, in 1515 there was about 50,000 natives and in 1550 there was about five hundred. When any of the natives had tried to escape or run away they were hunted down, or if they had not done they’re job well enough and did not earn a copper token, their hands were cut off. Once it was decided there was no gold left, the Spaniards took the natives as slaves and brought them back to Spain to be sold. However on the way back to Spain, two hundred out of the five hundred natives had died. The Spaniards would make the natives carry them around if they were feeling tired or did not want to walk somewhere, they compared the natives to animals. It is clear that Columbus was nothing but an inhumane villain with no consideration for other
Columbus had captured a few Indians in hopes that they would show him where the gold and spices were located. Columbus promised the King and Queen of Spain various amounts of gold and slaves. The article, “Columbus and the Indians”, states, “They had to fill up the ships returning to Spain with something, so in 1495 they went on a great slave raid. Afterward, they picked five hundred captives to send to Spain. Two hundred of the Indians died on the voyage. The rest arrived alive in Spain and were put up for sale by a local church official” (6-7). Columbus and his crew were after one thing: slaves and gold. When the sailors realized there was not enough gold for the entire country in “India”, the crew gathered up all the men, women, and children to sail them home and sell them as slaves to the Spaniards. Columbus traded slaves that he took away from families in order to lessen his failure by finding and creating a trade route (Minster 1). In order to not get reprimanded by the monarchs of Spain, Columbus came up with a backup plan to lessen his punishment. Since he promised the country golds and spices and he did not find any, Columbus decided to take the next best thing: Native Americans. Any natives and all natives were captured and stored on ships for the journey home. Christopher Columbus enslaved and traded Native Americans in order to lessen the penalty he would receive from the
Bringing Columbus large amounts of gold and jewels even personal possessions the natives were so naïve as to his real intentions. Little did the Indians know (Named so because Columbus had originally set sail to India and stumbled upon the Americans, thinking he had found his destination he proclaimed the natives as Indians, a mistake that for some reason stuck.) know that in that action of pure kindness they had given Columbus and future barbarians the proof they needed to come back with the clear plan to kill and steal everything. Columbus himself wrote later: “As soon as I arrived in the Indies, on the first Island which I found, I took some of the natives by force in order that they might learn and might give me information of whatever is in these parts.” As author Howard Zinn puts it “The information Columbus wanted most was: Where is the gold?”
On his first voyage that was in 1492, Columbus settled on an unknown island after a rigorous 3-month journey. On his early day in the new world, he in declared six of the natives to be annexed, handwriting in his note that he conceive they would be good slave. Throughout the generations in the new world, Columbus preformed practice of mandatory labor in which Indians were put to trail for the consideration of benefit. Later, Columbus sent many of tranquil Taino “natives” from the point of Hispaniola to Spain to be dispose of. Many natives died on the way to Spain. Those who were left behind were compelled to explore for gold in mines and on farmstead. Within the sixty years after Columbus arrived, only a few of what may have been 250,000 Taino natives were left the
They were willing to trade everything they owned. They were will built, with good bodies and handsome features. They would make fine servants…. With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want”. In this quote, Dr. Zinn gives what he believed to be another motivation of Columbus, which was the motivation to make the Indians into slaves for monetary gain. Dr. Zinn believed this to be the motivation of what he termed the “Europe of the Renaissance”. Dr Zinn states; “theses traits, speaking of the Arawak, did not stand in the Europe of the Renaissance, dominated as it was by the religion of popes, the government of kings, the frenzy for the money that marketed Western civilization and its first messenger to the Americas, Christopher Columbus.
The Europeans main goal revolved around the stability of power of the Spanish Crown. The Spanish Crown was focused on expanding their military so they needed resources such as gold to pay for the constantly increasing military budget. Columbus used this idea to help get resources such as, boats, men, food and weapons from the Spanish Crown. This is important because it describes the desperate need of gold that the Spaniards had which ultimately led to the gruesome acts they committed.
When Columbus first saw the people on the island he thought of them as servants. He wanted to bring back home with him six of them to show they could learn their language and that they would want to become Christians. In other islands he did kidnap some. On one voyage he took ten to twenty-five of American Indians. Not all of them arrived
According to Meredith, Columbus had said that the Arawak Indians willingly traded everything that they owned and that they seemed a poor people.# He later states in his log to make himself appear humble that he gave gifts to one particular man, a red cap, a string of glass beads, and two hawks’ bells which were together worth less than 3 cents.#
When Columbus and his men arrived to the islands, he noticed that the natives were generous, and accommodating because they willingly traded everything they owned and brought them such things like: food, water, and gifts. Since the beginning the natives offered all of their hospitality to Columbus