1. THE TAÍNO GENOCIDE
Social Studies for 9th E.G.B.
Teacher: Mauricio Torres

2. "They...brought us parrots and balls of cotton and spears and
many other things... They would make fine servants... With
fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do
whatever we want.”
Christopher Columbus

3. BACKGROUND
• Columbus arrives in the Caribbean (Hispaniola)
• He meets the Taíno and is welcomed by them.
• He makes some of them slaves, and finally decides to have the majority of them pay
tribute.

4. THE TAÍNO PEOPLE
• They were the pre-Columbine inhabitants of Caribbean
territories that now a days we know as the Bahamas and
the Antilles.
• In Hispaniola (modern day Haití and Dominican
Republic), the island on which Columbus arrived.
• They had a ruling “chief” called the Cacique.
• Each Cacique had power over it‟s own stretch of
land.
• They were paid tribute by others.
• They enjoyed special privileges.

5. BRIEF FACTS ON CULTURE
• The Taíno had two classes:
• Naborias (commoners)
• Nitainos (nobles)
• They lived on agriculture, but they also hunted and
as seafaring people, they fished too.
• Some of them practiced Polygamy.
• The Tainos lived in yucayeques (cities).
• They lacked written language.
• Their religion was based on worshiping gods, spirits
and ancestors.

6. THE “MEETING OF TWO CULTURES”
• When Columbus arrived in the Caribbean, the
population of the Taínos was around the 8
million, according to Fray Bartolomé de las
Casas.
• Columbus called them “indians” and the name
stuck.
• They traded gold, feathers and cotton for
mirrors, combs and spoons.
• He took some of them back to Spain, as proof
of his findings.

7. COLUMBUS, THE TYRANT
"I found very many islands filled with people • He demanded from the Taino who were
without number, and all of them I have taken over 14 years of age, to deliver a tribute
possession for their Highnesses...
of gold every three months.
As soon as I arrived in the Indies, on the first
• If he didn‟t deliver, he had a second
Island which I found, I took some of the natives
by force in order that they might learn and might choice: twenty five pounds of cotton.
give me information on whatever there is in these
• If not, he had both hands cut off and
parts"
left to die.
Christopher Columbus
• He enslaved many and executed many
more. By 1496, the population had been
reduced from as many as eight million to
around three million.

8. DETAILED ATROCITIES
• Some Taino were killed directly as
punishments for „crimes‟ such as not
paying tribute to the invaders.
• Columbus and his men are documented
by the chronicles of Las Casas, to have
partaken in:
• Mass hangings, roasting people on
spits, burnings at the stake and even
hacking young children to death and
feeding them to dogs as punishment
for the most minor of crimes.
• The Spanish masters massacred the
natives, sometimes hundreds at a time for
sport, making bets on who could split a
man in two, or cut a head off in one blow.

9. AFTER COLUMBUS
“By the time he finally left in 1504, the Taino had
been reduced to around 100,000 people arguably
making Columbus a war criminal by today’s
standards and guilty of committing some of the
worst atrocities against another race in history.”

10. DEFENDING COLUMBUS
• Defenders of Columbus argue that a large amount of
the victims were killed by disease.
• However they fail to recognize that most of these
diseases were caused by
• Poor living conditions in forced labour camps.
• Deprived of their crops and fields, many fell prey
to dysentery and typhus.
• Were worked to death or were left to starve to
death.

11. 500+ YEARS LATER
• Today, the Tainos no longer exist.
• Historiographers in Latin America are revising
the work of Historians and challenging many
established views on the events after October
12th.

12. ASK YOURSELF
• Infer:
• After the first friendly meeting with the Tainos, why do you think Columbus decided to
turn into an “unfriendly guest”?
• Analyze:
• Why do you think people emphasize so much on disease as the main reason for the
extinction of the Tainos?
• Read the quotes from Columbus‟ letters. Do you think he felt superior to the natives?
• Understand:
• What is Genocide?
• Relate:
• Can we call this a “Latin American Holocaust”?

13. ASSIGNMENT!
• Evaluate:
• Being a Latin American, and knowing that in your veins
there is mestizo blood, think on the meaning that this date
has for you: October 12th (which remembers the landing
of Columbus in America).
• What are your feelings?
• Pride? Grief? Anger? Joy?
• Type two paragraphs on how people look back at this
date and identify it with:
• Genocide or “the meeting of two cultures”?
• Start with a first draft in class!

14. BIBLIOGRAPHY
• Burstein, S. M., & Shek, R. (2012). World History (Teacher´s Edition) (1st Edition ed.). (H.
McDougal, Ed.) Orlando, Florida, US.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
• Wikipedia. (n.d.). Taino. Retrieved May 14, 2012, from Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taino (information taken from sources).
• Renius, A. (n.d.). Christopher columbus and the Genocide of the Taino. Retrieved May 14,
2012, from Socyberty: http://socyberty.com/history/christopher-columbus-and-the-
genocide-of-the-taino-nation/#ixzz1unrqn12h
• Latin American Studies. (n.d.). Taino Conquest. Retrieved May 14, 2012, from Latin
American Studies: http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/taino/taino-conquest.htm
• Images taken from Google.com