Christopher Columbus was an explorer and entrepreneur – everyone knows that part, right? But you might not know that one of Columbus’ main business ventures was enslaving human beings – Africans in his early career and so-called Indians when he arrived in the Caribbean. Columbus had already been a slave trader for 12 years for Portugal prior to sailing across the Atlantic Ocean for the Spanish – it was his profession (the headline on his resume, if you will) when he sought Spanish sponsorship of his now famed expedition.

Following his first voyage to the Caribbean he returned to Europe with a small group of captive natives among his proof of the potential riches of the “new” lands. Though the Spanish monarchs King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella were against enslavement, Columbus was granted a much bigger second voyage “which was outfitted with seventeen heavily armed ships, attack dogs and more than twelve hundred men.”(2) The aim was to colonize the area and return a profit to the financial backers. During the second voyage more than “fifteen hundred men, women and children were captured, with five hundred sent back to Europe on ships”(2), two hundred of which died on the way.

On the island of Hispaniola (today the Dominican Republic and Haiti), Columbus set up a tribute system to generate gold. Each Arawak chieftain was to ensure that each male over 14 produced gold. Getting gold proved to be extremely labor intensive – requiring carrying boxes of soil and sand long distances to be processed (it was not so easy to directly use nearby water, such as in California’s Sierra Nevada mountains). Working the gold fields prevented the Indians from providing for their families, who suffered too. When the mining quotas were not met their hands were cut of and they were left to die. “When they attempted to flee, they were hunted down with dogs and killed.”(2)

Columbus and his men went from island to island around the Caribbean, capturing, killing, burning. Along with the damage done by novel pathogens the brutality wiped out whole communities and islands.

Enslaving natives was not a side-effect of the encounter – it was core to Columbus’ business model. Writing to his sponsors requesting more provisions, he said “We could pay for all of that with slaves from among these cannibals, a people very savage and suitable for the purpose, and well made, and of very good intelligence.”(3)

This is just a quick survey of a very troubling issue. There are more stories, more details of the terrible things that went on between Columbus’ men (and subsequent explorers) and the natives. Should we really be celebrating this man every October? Not only did he have nothing to do with founding the United States of America, he never actually set foot on the North American continent. Instead we ought to be fully aware of our collective history (good and bad), and celebrate the history and culture of other side of the “Columbus exchange” on Indigenous People’s Day.

Much of the information about Columbus’ enslavement of and horrific treatment of the natives comes from primary sources including Columbus’ own journals. Here are some references and further reading:

1. Wikipedia section on “Slavery and Serfdom” with respect to Columbus: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Columbus#Slavery_and_serfdom
2. “All The Real Indians Died Off” And 20 Other Myths About Native Americans” (2016) by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz and Dina Gilio-Whitaker, has a chapter dedicated to “Columbus Discovered America” which details this topic (Columbus, slavery, the myth of discovery and Indigenous People’s Day)
3. “The Other Slavery” (2016) by Andrés Reséndez has a dozen or so pages covering Columbus and his work enslaving Indians
4. “Columbus’ Confusion About the New World” (2009) by Edmund S. Morgan (published in Smithsonian magazine) describes the justification for the treatment of Indians as a trade – the Indians would receive Christianity and civilization in exchange for gold and other resources. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/columbus-confusion-about-the-new-world-140132422/
5. “Columbus and Genocide” (1975) by Edward T. Stone (published in American Heritage magazine) https://www.americanheritage.com/content/columbus-and-genocide

Update (October 9, 2018 at 12:15 AM): in my haste to get this out on Sunday night I incorrectly mentioned that Columbus imparted the encomienda system initially. In fact the system was only brought in later, after the colonists objected to the tribute system. The colonists revolted and assumed control of Indian land and people, as caretakers (more like feudal lords) which became the repartimiento or encomienda system that was replicated in other parts of Spanish colonies in the Americas. Around that time Columbus was replaced as governor of Hispaniola and ceased to have influence there. See (4). Also I mentioned that the monarchs of Spain were happy with all the results of the first voyage. They were in fact against enslavement but were excited by other aspects. Columbus’ plans for enslavement were done against orders by the monarchs. His “loophole” was that he claimed all enslaved Indians were cannibals, which was not true for most people and an exaggeration for others.

Update #2 (October 15, 2018 at 6:00 PM): added a link to a very detailed and somewhat harsh article linking Columbus, slavery and genocide (5). Stone writes that Columbus turned to enslavement as a way to make up for lack of profits from precious metals and spices, whereas recent research and my thesis lay slavery at the center of his plan from the start.