The native Taino people of the island were systematically enslaved and murdered. Hundreds were rounded up and shipped to Europe to be sold; many died en route. For the rest of the population, Columbus demanded that all Taino under his control should bring the Spaniards gold.
Those who didn’t were to have their hands cut off. Since there was, in fact, little gold to be had, the Taino fled, and the Spaniards hunted them down and killed them. The Taino tried to mount a resistance, but the Spanish weaponry was superior, and European diseases ravaged their population. In despair, the Taino engaged in mass suicide, even killing their own children to save them from the Spaniards. Within two years, half of what may have been 250,000 Taino were dead.
The remainder were taken as slaves and set to work on plantations, where the mortality rate was very high. By 1550, 60 years after Columbus landed, only a few hundred Taino were left on their island. In another hundred years, perhaps only a handful remained.
If this story you tell me about the Taino people is true, then we should re-assess the character of Columbus himself. He might be a great explorer, but let’s not go overboard praising him as a man to emulate in term of the goodness of his heart.
Roman Catholic or not, what he did was clearly UNCHRISTIAN.
Can’t blame Columbus for all this. Yes, the Spaniards treated the Indians badly, but the Spanish crown—spurred by friars such as De Las Casas —enacted a legal code that gave the indians far more protection than other Europeans did, or the indians themselves did to tributary tribes. And this bit about disease. One can hardly blame the Spaniards if the indians immune systems gave them almost no protection to the aborgines. Do you think that the Spaniards rejoined to see their work force decimated?