Early Western Attempts At Colonialism Can Generally Be

In 1492 when Christopher Columbus made it to the western hemisphere, he landed in the Bahamas where there were many Native American tribes living on different islands in the area. There were the Eastern Taino, the Western Taino, the “classic” Taino’s, and other small Native American peoples. Christopher Columbus happened to land on the island with the Western Taino. The Western Taino were the most peaceful of the three Taino, as well as the most complex Native American group in the area and they heavily relied on agriculture, fishing, and hunting. They welcomed Columbus and his men without thinking and were helpful in aiding the Europeans’ recovery from their long voyage from Europe. The Classic Tainos were the largest group in

Columbus has always been portrayed as an enlightened, peaceful explorer who “discovered” a new world, and became friends with the native people. Howard Zinn’s view on Columbus’s encounter with the natives is an entirely different perspective. Zinn describes Columbus as a man who is willing to torture and kill others to be able to accomplish what he wants; in this case he wanted to obtain gold and other resources to take back with him to Spain.

Christopher Columbus account on the meeting of the Arawak for the first time consists of many tragic events in history. However, there are two different points of view that should be considered upon the opinion of Christopher himself, and Bartolome de Las Casas. Comparing and contrasting the two documents one can truly see that the truth would always come to light. In Christopher Columbus voyage, he had mentioned that the Native Americans were nothing more than loving as they were willing to give as much as they could without any resentment. As they were always lavish with everything in their possession. In the second passage, Bartolome de Las Casas has also indicated that the Indians were rational and wise individuals. They never had any desire or feeling of hate toward another

Taino indians were the indigenous group that lived in the Caribbean Islands that consisted of Hispaniola, Cuba, and Puerto Rico before Christopher Columbus arrived in the new world. Columbus’ conquest and founding of Puerto Rico resulted in the genocide of the Tainos. Due to this atrocity, right now there is only a small percentage of people on the island who are descendants of the Taino lineage.

By the 1800s, Europe had gained considerable power- centrally governed nation-states had emerged and the Industrial Revolution had deeply enriched different country’s economies. Advances in science and technology, industry, transportation, and communication provided Western nations with many advantages. Encouraged by their new military and economic prestige, European countries embarked on a path of aggressive expansion that today’s historians call “New Imperialism (1800-1914).” Europeans brought much of the world under their influence and control, dominating various countries politically, economically, and culturally. Though the West reaped the benefits of foreign imperialism, native peoples felt its harmful effects. For example, in Document

In the book The Conquest of America by Tzvetan Todorov, Todorov brings about an interesting look into the expeditions of Columbus, based on Columbus’ own writings. Initially, one can see Columbus nearly overwhelmed by the beauty of these lands that he has encountered. He creates vivid pictures that stand out in the imagination, colored by a "marvelous" descriptive style. Todorov gives us an interpretation of Columbus’ discovery of America, and the Spaniards’ subsequent conquest, colonization, and destruction of pre-Columbian cultures in Mexico and the Caribbean. Tzvetan Todorov examines the beliefs and behavior of the Spanish conquistadors and of the Aztecs.

In the book They Came Before Columbus written by Ivan Van Sertima, chapter twelve, “Mystery of Mu-lan-pi”, there is a reoccurring theme of disproving the notion that Columbus brought over many different things and products from his expeditions to American to the Eastern parts of the world when in reality there is factual evidence that Africans made contact with America far before Columbus did. The author of this book, Dr. Ivan Van Sertima, has his undergraduates degree in African languages and literature from the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London. Van Sertima also worked as a journalist in Great Britain and did broadcasted to the Caribbean and Africa. With and extensive knowledge and work experience in African American Studies it is clear why he chose to wrote this book. The idea that Columbus was the first to bring things like maize from America is widely believed to be true but Van Setima saw that this was false and published They Came Before Columbus to show the facts and evidence that Columbus was not the first person to accomplish this. After writing this book Van Sertima went on to complete a master’s degree in African Studies at Rutgers University and even became a professor of African Studies at the same university. In this essay I will be going deeper into the theme and its relationship to African American history and discussing three other articles that can be related back to chapter twelve of They Came Before Columbus.

It is disheartening that the Arawak tribe which received Columbus and his crew with open hearts could be subjugated to mere slaves. Also evident in his writing, “the Indians are so naïve…” This further exposed who he really was, a tyrant who capitalized on the warmth and affection shown upon his arrival for monetary want.

The coming of the European to the Americas was catastrophic for the indigenous American civilisations

In a 200-year period spanning from the early 1500s to the late 1600s, three prominent titans of Europe would set their eyes on the New World with the goals of colonization and profit. When Columbus first sailed to the New World, he came across the Taíno, a native people of the island of Hispaniola. Upon seeing them, he remarked, “They were very well built, with very handsome bodies and very good faces...They do not carry arms or know them...They should be good servants” (Poole). This statement was simply the foreshadowing of something unimaginable; a series of conquests that would leave millions dead and millions more enslaved. Although the Native Americans were treated fairly by the French but at constant odds with the English, the true terror

Columbus did not respect the rights and liberty of the native people. The Arawak were uncivilized people, whom as innocent person gave everything they had generously. “They had no

This documentary "The People that Greeted Columbus", talks about the ancient world of the Taynos civilization. They were simple people living simple life. Located in the jungle of Hispaniola now call Dominican Republic, their city was only built of organic materials. They feed on sweet potatoes, with which they have made cassava. From the river they would fished child with meat inside, which after taking out the meat collect the child for other purposes. This documentary have shown the Tainos civilization's beauty. But the arrival of Columbus had changed all of that.

Facing the fact that there was no more gold, the Spaniards looked to the rich land and soil for the next way that Puerto Rico could help the Kingdom of Spain. They raised cattle, and they planted staple crops, but sugarcane was the bread and butter so to speak. The only problem was that they could only trade with Spain for a long time and Spain grew their own sugarcane, too. But let’s not jump ahead of ourselves here. What was needed was a labor force to work these fields, and the Taino Indians were living in the Hinterlands. There was no way they were going to work those fields.

but, they had one emormus problem. The Taino people were extremely kind and generous to the the new settlers coming to their new land. This kindness

Sailing vast oceans with narrow minds: Columbus and da Gama’s disrespect towards the indigenous people