PART TWO

SURVIVORS

 

A BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO CONQUEST AND RESISTANCE

In 1492, an Italian invader called Cristoforo Colombo (also known as Cristóbal Colón and Christopher Columbus), arrived in the so-called “new world” with Spanish soldiers, fearsome weapons, European diseases, and a desire for spices to flavor European foods.

Islanders defended their homeland, but the conquistadors were brutal newcomers who understood nothing, unable to speak any native languages or respect traditions of peace and friendship.

Men, women, and children captured by Spanish invaders in West Africa were transported to the Caribbean islands on horrific ships. Enslaved people from many African nations were forced to work alongside the enslaved Taínos. Within a few generations, hundreds of thousands of Caribbean islanders were slaughtered by weapons or disease, and most of those who survived carried a blend of Indigenous, African, and Spanish ancestry, creating a unique mixture of languages and cultures.

Meanwhile, Spanish invaders spread out in every direction, killing or enslaving millions of native people from thousands of Indigenous nations in North, Central, and South America.