A Disastrous Day for Haiti and Puerto Rico
The day Columbus arrived in Hispaniola was the beginning of the end of the native Taino Indians (including the Haitians, Puerto Ricans, Cubans etc). As he had not been able to steal much gold from the surrounding islands, Columbus took as many people as he could and crammed them into his ships to be taken back as slaves.
Hundreds died on the journey and were simply tossed into the sea. In the following years the Taino were enslaved and killed and almost brought to extinction, (the census from the times appears to re-classify the few remaining Taino as 'coloured'.) This was the start of the massive trade in slaves that was to continue for hundreds of years.
Read more at Suite101: Columbus Day – Celebration of Myth, Torture and Genocide http://www.suite101.com/content/columbus-day--celebration-of-myth-torture-and-genocide-a277248#ixzz14Zfhi6Yh
After reading these two opinions how do you feel about the argument that Columbus committed genocide?
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