Atlantic coast of North America, they encouraged coastal Indian
tribes to capture and sell members of mote distant tribes. Charleston, South Carolina,
became a major port for exporting Indian slaves. The Pilgrims and Puritans sold the
survivors of the Pequoi War into slavery in Bermuda in 1637. The French shipped virtually
the entire Natchez nation in chains to the West Indies in 1731.
A particularly repellent aspect of the slave trade was sexual. As soon as the 1493
expedition got to the Caribbean, before it even reached Haiti, Columbus was rewarding his
lieutenants with native women to rape.64 On Haiti, sex slaves were one more perquisite that the Spaniards enjoyed. Columbus wrote a
friend in 1500, “A hundred castellanoes are as easily obtained for a woman as for a farm,
and it is very general and there are plenty of dealers who go about looking for girls; those from nine to ten are now in demand.” The slave trade destroyed whole Indian nations. Enslaved Indians died. To replace the dying Haitians, the Spanish imported tens of thousands more Indians from the
Bahamas, which “are now deserted,” in the words of the Spanish historian Peter Martyr,
reporting in 1516.M Packed in below deck, with hatchways closed to prevent their escape, so many slaves died
on the trip that “a ship without a compass, chart, or guide, but only following the trail
of dead Indians who had been thrown from the ships could find its way from the Bahamas to
Hispaniola.”67 Puerto Rico and Cuba were next.
Because the Indians died, Indian slavery then led to the massive slave trade the other way
across the Atlantic, from Africa. This trade also began on Haiti, initiated by Columbus's
son in 1505. Predictably, Haiti then became the site of the first large-scale slave
revolt, when blacks and Indians banded together in 1519. The uprising lasted more than a
decade and was finally brought to an end by the Spanish in the 1530s.6S Of the twelve textbooks, only six mention that the Spanish enslaved or exploited the
Indians anywhere in the Americas. Of these only four verge on mentioning that Columbus was
involved. The Untied StatesA History of the Republic places the following passage about the fate of the Indians under the heading “The Fate of
Columbus”: “Some Spaniards who had come to the Americas had begun to enslave and kill
the original Americans. Authorities in Spain held Columbus responsible for the
atrocities.” Note that A History takes pains to isolate Columbus from the enslavement chargeothers were misbehaving. Life and Liberty implies that Columbus might have participated: “Slavery began in the New World almost as
soon as Columbus got off the boat.” Only The American Adventure clearly associates Columbus with slavery. American History levels a vague charge: “Columbus was a great sailor and a brave and determined man. But he
was not good at politics or business.” That's it. The other books simply adore him.
As Kirkpatrick Sale poetically sums up, Columbus's “second voyage marks the first extended
encounter of European and Indian societies, the clash of cultures that was to echo down
through five centuries.”69 The seeds of that fivecentury battle were sown in Haiti between 1493 and 1500. These are
not mere details that our textbooks omit. They are facts crucial to understanding American and
European history. Capt. John Smith, for example, used Columbus as a role model in
proposing a get-tough policy for the Virginia Indians in 1624: “The manner how to suppress
them is so often related and approved, I omit it here: And you have twenty examples of the
Spaniards how they got the West Indies, and forced the treacherous and rebellious infidels
to do all manner of drudgery work and slavery for them, themselves living like soldiers
upon the fruits of their labors.”70 The methods unleashed by Columbus are, in fact, the larger
tribes to capture and sell members of mote distant tribes. Charleston, South Carolina,
became a major port for exporting Indian slaves. The Pilgrims and Puritans sold the
survivors of the Pequoi War into slavery in Bermuda in 1637. The French shipped virtually
the entire Natchez nation in chains to the West Indies in 1731.
A particularly repellent aspect of the slave trade was sexual. As soon as the 1493
expedition got to the Caribbean, before it even reached Haiti, Columbus was rewarding his
lieutenants with native women to rape.64 On Haiti, sex slaves were one more perquisite that the Spaniards enjoyed. Columbus wrote a
friend in 1500, “A hundred castellanoes are as easily obtained for a woman as for a farm,
and it is very general and there are plenty of dealers who go about looking for girls; those from nine to ten are now in demand.” The slave trade destroyed whole Indian nations. Enslaved Indians died. To replace the dying Haitians, the Spanish imported tens of thousands more Indians from the
Bahamas, which “are now deserted,” in the words of the Spanish historian Peter Martyr,
reporting in 1516.M Packed in below deck, with hatchways closed to prevent their escape, so many slaves died
on the trip that “a ship without a compass, chart, or guide, but only following the trail
of dead Indians who had been thrown from the ships could find its way from the Bahamas to
Hispaniola.”67 Puerto Rico and Cuba were next.
Because the Indians died, Indian slavery then led to the massive slave trade the other way
across the Atlantic, from Africa. This trade also began on Haiti, initiated by Columbus's
son in 1505. Predictably, Haiti then became the site of the first large-scale slave
revolt, when blacks and Indians banded together in 1519. The uprising lasted more than a
decade and was finally brought to an end by the Spanish in the 1530s.6S Of the twelve textbooks, only six mention that the Spanish enslaved or exploited the
Indians anywhere in the Americas. Of these only four verge on mentioning that Columbus was
involved. The Untied StatesA History of the Republic places the following passage about the fate of the Indians under the heading “The Fate of
Columbus”: “Some Spaniards who had come to the Americas had begun to enslave and kill
the original Americans. Authorities in Spain held Columbus responsible for the
atrocities.” Note that A History takes pains to isolate Columbus from the enslavement chargeothers were misbehaving. Life and Liberty implies that Columbus might have participated: “Slavery began in the New World almost as
soon as Columbus got off the boat.” Only The American Adventure clearly associates Columbus with slavery. American History levels a vague charge: “Columbus was a great sailor and a brave and determined man. But he
was not good at politics or business.” That's it. The other books simply adore him.
As Kirkpatrick Sale poetically sums up, Columbus's “second voyage marks the first extended
encounter of European and Indian societies, the clash of cultures that was to echo down
through five centuries.”69 The seeds of that fivecentury battle were sown in Haiti between 1493 and 1500. These are
not mere details that our textbooks omit. They are facts crucial to understanding American and
European history. Capt. John Smith, for example, used Columbus as a role model in
proposing a get-tough policy for the Virginia Indians in 1624: “The manner how to suppress
them is so often related and approved, I omit it here: And you have twenty examples of the
Spaniards how they got the West Indies, and forced the treacherous and rebellious infidels
to do all manner of drudgery work and slavery for them, themselves living like soldiers
upon the fruits of their labors.”70 The methods unleashed by Columbus are, in fact, the larger
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