we all know how Columbus came to the

Americas with his three ships but who

did he find there and how were the

Spanish greeted this is the story of the

first contact between the Native

American and the Spanish people and what

followed after the Caribbean 1492 on

October 11th 1492 the Spanish were

approaching the Bahamas from the

Northeast when they saw something

interesting land was first seen by a

sailor named Rodrigo de Triana but

Admiral Columbus at 10 o'clock saw a

light though he was uncertain that he

could affirm it was land afterwards

Columbus claimed he saw the light once

or twice more like a wax candle rising

and falling it seemed to some to be an

indication of land Columbus had to make

certain that land was close Columbus

asked and admonished the men to keep a

good lookout on the fo'c'sle and to

watch well for land he made a statement

saying that a reward of a silk doublet

along with ten thousand morrow vetti's

promised by the sovereigns would go to

the first sailor to seal and add two

hours after midnight land was sighted at

a distance of two leagues Columbus

ordered the three ships to halt and wait

for daylight before going further the

next day on October 12 1492 after two

months at sea Columbus and his crew

finally clearly spotted land it's not

known where they landed but we can say

for sure that they landed somewhere in

the Bahamas having landed they saw trees

very green and fruits of diverse kinds

upon reaching land Columbus fell to his

knees thanked God for a safe voyage and

planted a flag in the ground claiming

the land for Spain as the Tainos who had

lived there for a thousand years watched

from behind trees and bushes shortly

after landing many of the islands

inhabitants assembled on the beach the

Tainos gave them food and drink gifts of

cotton and other goods and the Spaniards

gave them gifts of red hats and beads

the Taino people had never seen white

men before and thought they were gods

Columbus spent the next two months

looking for gold in December of 1492

while they were sailing east of Cuba

three ships under the command of

Columbus approached the second largest

island in the Caribbean which they later

called las paniolo just when he was

about to return to Spain on Christmas

Eve his ship the Santa Maria ran aground

and sank the Taino chief mechanic Ari

told his people to help the Spanish and

retrieve every salvageable item a

problem arose when all the sailors who

had accompanied Columbus could not fit

on the 2 remaining and smaller ships so

a fort was built using the salvaged wood

from the santa maria and 39 men were

left behind at a fort columbus called La

Navidad

shortly after Columbus set sail for

Spain taking some of the natives and

birds foods and plants to show the king

and queen for the second voyage Columbus

was given a fleet of seventeen ships and

some soldiers upon arrival at La Navidad

Columbus found the fort burned to the

ground and all 39 men he had left behind

had been killed

it seems the sailors left behind had

misbehaved in the form of rape of the

local women and theft of anything they

saw that they wanted one of the local

leaders named Carnival had met with the

other leaders and and all but one agreed

that gods would never have behaved in

the manner that the Spaniards had and

they decided the Spaniards had to go so

they eliminated them and a threat they

posed to their people

Columbus vowed to find Kona bow and

retaliate more fortified places were

rapidly built including a city founded

on January 2nd 1493 and named Liza Bella

for the Queen from that point on life as

the Taino knew it ended the spaniards

took revenge for the destruction of the

fort along Navidad and also took slaves

Columbus forced the Tainos to work in

the gold mines searching for gold those

who refused were killed each adult over

14 years of age was expected to deliver

a hawk spell full of gold every three

months or when this was lacking 25

pounds of spun cotton if this tribute

was not brought the Spanish cut off the

hands of the Taino and left them to

bleed to death

Taino women were given to spaniards to

do with whatever they wished the fields

unattended failed to yield enough food

for the Tainos and the spaniards whose

supplies had run out all were hungry

Columbus found cal-neva

they tricked him in order to capture him

and he was put on a ship that was sent

to Spain and was never heard from again

many tiny no starve to death

others died from hard labor many

committed suicide epidemics swept the

island they were beaten tortured raped

enslaved and murdered after 1496 the

number of Tainos fell by about 70% cacao

gari the chief who befriended Columbus

also died soon at this point the

Spaniards and Liza Bella

started a rebellion against Columbus and

his brothers the Spanish king and queen

sent a royal investigator to calm the

situation Columbus and his brothers were

found guilty for numerous crimes against

both the natives and the Spaniards

Columbus and his brothers were arrested

and put on a ship to Spain the Spanish

authorities would allow him another

voyage across the ocean but they forbid

him to visit las paniolo

he explored the Caribbean for two years

and then returned to Spain where he died

in

15:06 meanwhile on Las paniolo the

Tainos who didn't want to work for the

Spanish fled for the hills the Tainos

ruled in a mountain region their leader

was a woman named Ana Corona she was the

wife of Carnival the chief who had led

the attack on the Spanish fort years

earlier in 1503 the Spanish governor

requested a meeting with her in order to

break the resistance during the meeting

of 80 Taino leaders including a Nocona

the Spanish governor nicolas de ovando

ordered the meetinghouse to be set on

fire to burn them alive Annika Juana was

arrested and accused of conspiracy for

resisting occupation and executed prior

to her execution on Nocona was offered

clemency if she would give herself to

one of the Spaniards which was common in

the era standing with her fellow Tainos

and solidarity the Taino indigenous

female leader chose execution over

colluding with her Spanish enemy her

refusal creating her legend on Nocona

remained rebellious and independent

until her violent public death she was

executed by hanging at the age of 29

another Taino chief Kota bana Mahal was

ruling in another area successfully

resisting the Spaniards for a while

until he suffered the same fate as a

Nocona but there was one tie you know

who came to be known as the most

resilient of all his name was Enrique he

was also in the meeting when the

Spaniards burned 80 Taino leaders in

fact one of them was his father and Rica

managed to escape after a Spaniard

governor named vaana's whele raped his

wife enrique started a revolt in 1519

with a large number of Tainos from the

mountain range he and his followers

started a community in the mountains and

set up a scouting Network and Rica

instructed his men to fight only in

self-defense to kill Spaniards only in

the course of battle otherwise simply to

deprive them of their arms

the Spaniards often attack them but the

Tainos pushed them off time after time

during one battle Venezuela himself was

captured but even his life would be

spared

andrey k ordered his release the Tainos

were able to continue the rebellion and

waged guerrilla warfare on the spaniards

until 1533 because of their better

knowledge of the region as the Spaniards

were not able to control the rebellion

Spain's monarch Charles v signed a

treaty granting the Tainos the rights of

freedom and possession and Rica settled

in the mountains with his 4,000

followers the last members of the Taino

culture by this time the native

population was rapidly declining due to

European diseases at the end of the

century the Taino population was

officially reported extinct