HISTORY SBA QUESTION

RESEARCH QUESTION: To what extent did European colonization affect the lives of the
indigenous people the period after 1492?

(Honneychurch, Lennox. The Caribbean People, Book 2, Third Edition. United Kingdom,
Oxford the
CHAPTER 3: A PEOPLE DISSAPEARS

The enslavement of the Taino was begun by Columbus himself. Every Taino over fourteen years
was to bring a hawksbell full of gold to him every three months. A Cacique had to bring a
calabash full.
They were unused to forced and it was difficult for them. Some killed themselves rather than
work for the Spaniards, jumping over cliffs or drinking poisonous herbal juices. Others who
escaped to the mountains were hunted once more, and some took to the sea in their canoes. Many
just died from hopelessness and grief. No longer could they farm according to the seasons, hunt
and catch fish, pick fruit and gather natural resources where they pleased over land and sea. Now
under the Spaniards the Taino population rapidly decreased. According to many historians, by
1497 one-third of the natives of Hispaniola were dead.
The Spanish had bought diseases with them from Europe and these epidemics, particularly
smallpox, swept through the native population who had no immunity to this infection. So,
harassed by forced labour, weakened and cut down by diseases, robbed of their land, their whole
society collapsed.
The Spanish settlers were given grants of land to develop. This land, or repartamientos, had to be
worked by Tainos. The tainos were taken under the encomienda system. This meant that each
settler was allowed a share of the Tainos. Many Tainos were enslaved by this system. Besides
working in the fields and digging for gold the Taino were taken to Cubagua, an island near the
coast of Venezuela, and forced to dive for pearls in the waters around the island.
A Spaniard who knew Hispaniola well was able to estimate that when the island was first visited
by Columbus there were 1,130,000 Tainos living there. In 1518 he wrote, ‘today their number
does not exceed 11,000. And judging by what has happened, there will be none left in the three
or four years’ time unless some remedy is applied.’
The conquistadors therefore used Christianity as an excuse to subdue the Tainos.
Very often the Tainos were simply in the new religion.
In a Christmas sermon in 1511 at Santo Domingo, Friar Antoni de Montesinos spoke out
forcefully forcefully against the harsh treatment of the Tainos. As a result, the enslavement of
Tainos was forbidden by law from that time. But in fact this made little difference to the
colonists.
Bartolome de Las Casas. In Cuba he got an encomienda of like the other settlers. But soon he
realized how cruel was and gave back his own land to the Tainos. He was given the title of
‘protector of the Indians’.
 (Greenwood, R. Hamber, S. Arawak to Africans, Caribbean Certificate History 1. Hong Kong:
the Macmillan Press Ltd, 1980)
CHAPTER 3: SPANISH SUBJUGATION OF THE ARAWAKS AND THE BEGINNING OF
THE SYSTEMATIC ADMINISTRATION.

Unfortunately, Juan de Fronseca, who had no sympathy for the Arawak’s, was put in charge of
colonial affairs for the Spanish crown and given great power the Arawak’s suffered because
Fonsecaa was not willing to enforce the laws which existed for the protection of natives.
Columbus, who wanted to treat the Arawak fairly, opposed Fonseca.
Columbus regarded the Caribs differently to the Arawak’s. He suggested their enslavement to
Isabella in 1494, but she would not agree and reaffirmed that the Caribs were free people and
should be converted to Christianity.
In spite of official intentions, the Indians were treated appallingly and within fifty years there
was hardly an Arawak left in the West Indies. Even the church, with a few exceptions, was guilty
of condoning brutal practices towards the Indians.

HISPANIOLA
1492 300,000
1507 60,000
1509 40,000
1517 14,000
1548 500

JAMAICA
1492 60,000
1655 NONE

The most startling decline in population was in the first ten years which were the years of
conquest and subjugation. Two-thirds of the total Arawak population probably died in these
years. The Spaniards arrived in the West Indies in 1492 and within 150 years there was not a
single Arawak left. There was a number of reasons why the Spanish settlers killed the Arawak’s.
 1. They came without wives and by taking Arawak women clashed with Arawak men.
2. Many of the early settlers were soldiers who were released from fighting the moors in
1492. They wanted adventure and were used to bearing arms.
3. The settles only wanted gold and expected Arawak to provide food for them. They
treated the Arawak’s like slaves and killed them if they would not cooperate.
4. The settlers of 1498 were mainly criminals which was disastrous for the Arawak’s.
5. The settlers adopted the ‘hildago class-attitude’ as if they were land owning nobles aloof
from manual labour. Settlers with this attitude often hunted Arawak’s for sport.
6. Even the priests who accompanied the settlers treated the Arawak’s badly, especially on
the frontiers of the empire. They did not restrain the settlers in their ill treatment as they
should have done.

The use of dogs was found to be very effective and many Arawak’s were torn to pieces by
bloodhounds the Spaniards reckoned that one dog was worth ten soldiers against the Arawak’s
because they were so frightened of dogs. Ovando completed the extermination of the Tainos in
1503.
In 1511 the conquest of Cuba began. The cacique, Hatuey, resisted and Diego Velasquez carried
out the massacre at Canoas. Hatuey was burnt alive. Massacres of Arawak’s in Cuba continued
until 1531.
The forced labour of the encomienda system was so hard and alien compared with the Arawak’s
former life that many committed suicide rather than submit. They hanged themselves or poisoned
themselves with cassava juice in Hispaniola and Jamaica. The Arawak’s also began to practice
infanticide rather than let their children suffer under Spanish cruelty.
Spanish horsemen galloped at the Arawak’s using their swords as lances to see if they could run
their swords through Arawak’s head off at one stroke. They dropped Arawak babies over cliffs
and drowned them in rivers. Burning to death was reserved for the nobles and chiefs
The labour may have been fed but the family he left behind starved. Sometimes to escape
encomienda, the Arawak’s ran away and again their land was neglected. They hid in the
mountains where they could not subsist and they starved. Even when the Arawak managed to
maintain hid conucos and avoid encomienda, he might still be brought to be ruin by the disregard
the Spaniards vowed for his land in letting their cattle trample on and eat his crops. Encomienda
killed many Arawak through overwork and starvation. In the field’s long hours of labour under a
hot sun brought death to people totally unused to physical labour. In the mines many died under
the strain of heavy loads and cruel beatings. The Spaniards brought over diseases and epidemics
which killed the Arawak’s. The most famous examples are smallpox and measles in Hispaniola
between 1507 and 1517. The Arawak had no immunity to these alien diseases and the death toll
was high. A smallpox epidemic swept across Cuba in 1520 and killed thousands of Arawak’s and
Spaniards, but fell more heavily on the Arawak’s who lacked and immunity.