Arawak Native Americans Research Paper

The Arawak Indians were the first Indians to meet Christopher Columbus and his crew when they arrived at the Bahama Islands. Columbus writes in his journal about how friendly and hospitable they were. This is followed by “what fine servants” they would make. Christopher Columbus ended up in the Bahamas because of an expedition he was sent on for the Spanish. At the time, Spain was hungry for gold, and Asia was thought to have a lot of it. Columbus had convinced the King and Queen that since the earth was round, he could sail west and get there quicker. Not only did Spain agreed to finance the trip, but for any gold brought back Columbus could keep ten percent of the profits, govern over any new land he found, and was given the title Admiral of the Ocean Sea. On his first expedition he set out on three boats with …show more content…
When Columbus returned to Haiti he couldn’t find any gold, so he ended up going on a great slave raid. He rounded up hundreds of Arawak Indians and put them on ships back to Spain where thousands died. Columbus was desperate to find gold so he forced the Arawaks to gather a certain amount of gold each. If an Indian was found without gold, their hands would be cut off. Hundreds of Arawak died trying to put up resistance, and when it was clear that there was no more gold, the Indians were put into slave labor. Many reports show the extreme decline of the Arawak population until none were left in Haiti. Las Casas, a young priest who was involved in the conquest of Cuba, wrote about the horrible cruelty Columbus showed towards the Indians. He talks about the ways of the Arawak and how generous they were. Las Casas talks about the inhuman acts that Columbus made the Indians go through. This includes beheading them for fun, raping their women, and making them mine for gold until their backs broke. He ends with stating that over three million Arawak Indians