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LESSON EIGHT: THE GENOCIDE OF THE TAINOS BY THE SPANIARDS.

Question: What were the Tainos first impression of the Spaniards?

Answer: The Tainos felt that Christopher Columbus and his men were strange gods. They felt this way because they shone like the sun, since they wore on their heads and chest sheets of metal. The Tainos were also amazed that the Spaniards had skins the colour of white coral sand and that hair grew from their cheeks.

The Tainos were also astonished at the three giant ships the Spaniards arrived in since they appeared to be huge white wings floating on the sea.

Question: What were the Spaniards first impression of the Tainos?

Answer: Christopher Columbus and his men thought that that the Tainos were honest, friendly and easy to christianise by love than by force since it appeared that they had no religion. Columbus thought that it would be easy to enslave or have power over them and therefore they would make good and skilful servants since they carried only primitive weapons. He also felt that they would know where the gold was.

THE GENOCIDE OF THE AMERINDIANS

Genocide- is the systematic destruction of members of a particular ethnic group or race by another group of people.

Question: How did the Spanish disrupt the Taino way of life?

Answer: 1. The Spanish settlers introduced the Repartimiento system which took land away from the Indians and gave grants of land to these settlers to develop. This land had to be worked by the Indians.

2. The Encomienda system was then introduced which gave each Spanish settler (encomendero) a share of Indians. These settlers had a right to exact tribute (usually in the form of gold, labour and crops) from the Indians. Under this system the Spanish settlers were expected to protect and christianise the Indians.

Under the encomienda system many Indians were enslaved. The Indians were forced to mine for gold and every Indian over fourteen years had to bring a hawksbell full of gold every three months. The cacique had to bring a calabash full of gold. Indians who did not bring these tributes were punished by death.

Many Indians were taken to Cubagua, an island near the coast of Venezuela and made to dive for pearls. The Indians were not used to hard labour.

3. They were now required to grow food not only for themselves but for the Spanish as well. Many died of starvation since there wasn’t enough food for everyone.

4. The Spanish also brought diseases such as smallpox which the Indians had no immunity too.

5. The Spanish also took many Taino women as wives and so there was miscegenation (mixing of the races).

6. The Spanish would use dogs and horses to round up the Indians. These animals brought out from Spain were greatly feared by the Indians who were not accustomed to such fierce animals.

7. Many Indians died of grief and hopelessness, while others committed suicide and infanticide. Many of them also escaped to the mountains and some took to the sea in their canoes.

The life that the Indians knew was over. They could no longer idle in the sun, catch fish, pick fruit and wander where they pleased over land and sea. Their dignity, freedom and morality were taken away .

As a result of all these factors the Indian population rapidly decreased. A Spaniard who knew Hispaniola well was able to estimate that when Hispaniola was discovered it contained 1,130,000 Indians. In 1518 the population did not exceed 11, 000.

REFERENCES:

Honychurch, Lennox. The Caribbean People. Bk 2

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