Caribbean Studies 2013
THE CARIBBEAN: FIRST CONTACT
Europe's interaction with the Caribbean began in 1492 with the Spanish sponsored voyages of
Christopher Columbus. Columbus voyage started a wave of exploration, conquest and
colonization to the region beginning with the Spanish then by other European nations, namely
English, Holland and France (Ottley, Gentles, & Dawnson, 2013).
The purpose of Columbus voyage is to obtain natural resources such as gold and silver in order
to make the Spanish crown rich and to expand the borders of Spain.
They came as Conquistadors. Conquistadors are Spanish noblemen who led, or went, on
expeditions to the New World in the 16th century to claim territories for Spain. They came to
the Caribbean in order to get rich and not to live, but to return home to live as kings.
A number of people migrated from Europe to live in the Caribbean. They are called colonists
because they lived in the colonies. They came to settle and make the New World their home.
These included cattle ranchers and landowners.
Hispaniola was the first Spanish colony. It was established in 1498. It was named Isabella in
honour of the queen. Columbus and his men brought plant seeds and livestock to help make the
colony self-supporting. They introduced sugar cane and built sugar mills to process cane.
This Spanish pattern of conquest and settlement became the standard for Spanish exploration in
the New World. Upon discovering a new territory, the Spanish expeditions were usually, but not
always, greeted by friendly inhabitants. During this initial stage the Europeans would survey the
area and the people to determine their potential for exploitation. Within a short period of time
the inhabitants would grow to resent the Spanish who helped themselves to 'the natives' food,
women and gold.' Such abuses were common in Spanish cross-cultural contact and provoked
violent reactions by various indigenous populations. On the island of Hispaniola a group of
tribal leaders, joined forces to expel the Spaniards from the island. The Spaniards, who had the
benefit of muskets, arquebuses, armour, and savage dogs ruthlessly put these uprisings down
and took captive the tribal leaders to ensure native co-operation. Once native resistance was
crushed the Spanish forced the villages to grow cash crops, pay tribute, and mine for their
precious gold. The Spanish regime was brutal and violent. Rapes and massacres were casual and
frequent in occurrence, rationalised by a racist worldview that justified the exploitation of nonChristians or non-whites.
Once these deposits were found the Spanish had to secure sufficient labour to mine it so the
encomienda system was instituted by the Spanish Crown to regulate the new settlements. An
encomienda was a grant of land with a number of indigenous slaves given to a settler, whose
only obligation was to bring Christianity to his slaves. Unfortunately for these slaves the spread
of European disease, a harsh labour regime, and brutal mistreatment decimated their population.
The Spanish were forced to send out expeditions to neighbouring islands to capture slaves to
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replenish their exhausted labour supply.
The exhaustion of gold deposits and labour in the Caribbean led to the full-scale occupation and
exploitation of Puerto Rico, Jamaica, and Cuba between 1508-1511. Each occupation followed
the same pattern of discovery, local conquest, settlement, exhaustive exploitation, and finally a
push into the frontier for new natural resources and slaves. The men who led these campaigns
were known as the conquistadors. They adapted the reconquista pattern of military expedition
and settlement, often exploiting the pre-existing indigenous rivalries in order to divide and
conquer with extreme efficiency. The quest for gold brought the conquistadors to the mainland
of Central America where they would repeat the conquest pattern that had been so effective in
the Caribbean, to defeat the Aztec and Inca Empires.
The Encomendia System 1500-1600
The encomienda system was created by the Spanish to control and regulate American Indian labor and
behavior during the colonization of the Americas. Under the encomienda system, conquistadors and other
leaders (encomenderos) received grants of a number of Indians (in batches of 50 to 100 children, elderly
and pregnant and nursing mothers) from whom they could exact “tribute” in the form of gold or labor.
The encomenderos were supposed to protect and Christianize the Indians granted to them, but they most
often used the system to effectively enslave the Indians and take their lands.
All the labourers were severely and unfairly punished. The indigenous people were flogged, jailed and
starved. They were fed a bare subsistence of cassava, bread and left-over pork form the pig killed weekly
to feed the encomenderos. The ill-treatment was extended to the raping of Indian women.
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Facts about the Encomendia system
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By law, the encomenderos were to receive a maximum of 300 Amerindians. The Amerindians
were allocated without any regard to proximity of the mines to their homes. As a result they were
separated from their wives and children for the period of labour.
The Amerindians worked on the farms, ranches and in mines. Others became household servants,
some worked on the construction of public buildings, whereas some were even used as beasts of
burden. All worked without wages for the encomendero for a period of six to eight months.
The Amerindian was to exchange his labour for conversion and catholic instruction. Sundays and
public holidays were to be given for this purpose. The encomendero was supposed to ensure that
the Amerindians under his care received religious instruction and were baptized as a sign of
conversion.
The enocmendero was supposed to provide the Amerindian labourers with food, shelter and
clothing during this period of obligatory service.
The impact of the Europeans on the Indigenous peoples
1. Genocide
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The indigenous populations were decreased so considerably under Spanish rule only minority
groups existed throughout the Caribbean region.
2. Forced labour or systems of enslavement were introduced.
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Repartaminento system- a percentage of the indigenous male population between the ages of 1860 was recruited to work for a Spaniard for a week for pay. However, they were hardly ever paid.
Encomienda system- smaller groups of indigenous people were allocated to a few privileged
Spaniards (encomenderos). The encomendero was granted a parcel of land, with the right to exact
tribute (usually in the form of labour or crops or both) form the indigenous people living on the
land. In return he was expected to convert them to Christianity and protect them.
3. New type of diseases were introduced.
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Indigenous peoples were not immune to diseases such as small pox and chicken pox.
4. Families were broken up.
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Adult males were moved from place to place by Spaniards. Many Kalinago were killed in wars
with the Spaniards
5. Indigenous agricultural systems were destroyed.
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The production of crops by indigenous peoples was affected. The Spanish brought
animals such as cattle, horses, sheep and goats, which trampled the fields. Often
these animals were placed to graze on the agricultural fields of the Indigenous people.
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6. Infanticide was carried out.
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Many parents preferred to kill their babies because they did not want them to grow up
under such conditions.
7. Sexual exploitation
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Tainos women were sexually exploited.
8. Cultural changes
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There were changes in indigenous religious practices due to the forced conversion of
Christianity.
There was a breakdown of Amerindian culture as the Tainos and Kalinagos had to
conform to European way of life.
The impact of the Indigenous people on the Europeans
The Indigenous groups themselves had little impact on Europe, save for those political and economic
effects on Europe, save for those political and economic effects.
- Review Questions
1. When was the first contact between Columbus and the New World?
2. What in Columbus’s mind was the purpose of the voyages?
3. What was the purpose of the Spaniards voyages?
4. What was of the impact of the Cross cultural exchange between the natives of the
New world and the Spaniards?
5. What system did they develop in the New World?
6. What was the purpose of this system?
7. What was the result of this system?
8. What were three effects of the encomendia system?
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