Slavery is often called America's Original Sin. After its institution in the New World, heinous acts in untold numbers were committed, rivaling some of history's worst barbarism. Despite a bloody civil war and the passage of 150 years after its conclusion, the impact of slavery and base prejudice refuses to go away. We see its legacy in the fractured black family; in discriminatory housing and hiring practices; in the inordinate number of young black men profiled by police in traffic stops and sometimes gunned down without provocation; and in the repeated attempts by southern state legislatures to restore Jim Crow-era restrictions on voting.
When we think of slavery's origins, we conjure up sailing ships packed with human cargo bound for America's shores from West Africa. What we don't picture is the famous man we are about to honor on Monday — Christopher Columbus.
Columbus didn't sail to prove the Earth round. By the time of his voyage, most educated people believed it was a globe. He came in search of the gold, spices and jewels that Asia and the Orient offered and that were now inaccessible because of recent conquests by the Ottoman Turks.
After sailing for more than two months, Columbus mistook the Bahamas for Asia and expected to meet the Khan. Instead, he and his men were eagerly greeted by the hospitable Taίnos Indians bearing food, fresh water and gifts like parrots and balls of cotton. But what struck Columbus more than anything was the metallic glint piercing their ears and noses. It was gold.
Columbus admired the mild-mannered Indians, but for the wrong reason. He later wrote, "They were very well built with fine bodies and handsome faces … They do not bear arms … They have no iron. Their spears are made of cane … They would make fine servants … With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want." And so it began. To his Oriental shopping list were added slaves.
The Taίnos were part of the Arawak Indians and had lived on the islands for 3,000 years. They were farmers and fishermen; they had a religion and believed in an afterlife; they had art and dance and played ball games; and their Eden came to a crashing end when Columbus arrived.
He immediately seized some of the Taίnos and took them to what's now Haiti and the Dominican Republic to find the source of their gold. He also transported human cargo back to Spain to show to the monarchs, though some Indians died because of the cold. In his report to the court, Columbus hyperbolically claimed that "There are many spices, and great mines of gold and other metals …" in this new land, thus ensuring him a second voyage.
When Columbus returned to America, he brought 17 ships and more than 1,200 men to transport the slaves and gold. Despite their superior numbers, the Indians and their Stone Age weapons were no match for the iron swords, crossbows, armor, horses and attack dogs of the Spanish soldiers. They rounded up 1,500 Taίnos and selected 500 to put on ships for Spain. More than 200 died during the voyage, and the rest were sold at market in Seville.
Columbus' treatment of the Taίnos was brutal. He put them to work in mines and streams seeking gold, or they were ordered to grow cotton. He established unreasonable quotas, and those who didn't satisfy them had a hand cut off and bled to death. Many Indians committed suicide and even murdered their young to protect them from a life of slavery. European diseases like tuberculosis and smallpox decimated their ranks. Scholars believe that there were between 300,000 and 400,000 Taίnos when Columbus arrived. By 1507 they numbered 60,000, and by 1531 there were just 600. It was genocide writ large.
Today we have cities, towns and even a national capital named after Columbus. This coming Monday it is only right that we honor him as a great navigator and a man of vision and courage who opened America to exploration and settlement. But as you give him his due, also utter a silent prayer for the hundreds and thousands of innocent Taίnos who didn't stand a chance in a clash of civilizations. Also acknowledge that theirs was just the opening act for the terrible drama that was soon to unfold for other indigenous peoples throughout the so-called New World.
Frank Batavick writes from Westminster. His column appears Fridays. Email him at fjbatavick@gmail.com.
