P
that the Arawak Indians have destroyed Navidad,
a fort previously built by the Europeans, and have
killed the 39 Spaniards inhabiting it (see entry for
OCTOBER 12, 1492). The Arawak attacked Navi-
dad after the Europeans staged a series of savage
raids on the Indians’ villages to obtain gold and
women. The massacre surprises Columbus, who
had decided that the Arawak were a harmless
people that the Europeans could easily overrun with
their superior weapons. The Spaniards retaliate with
even more brutal oppression (see entry for 1495),
leading to a nearly constant state of warfare between
the conquistadores and the Indians.
“To rule here, one need only
get settled and assert authority
over the natives, who will carry
out whatever they are ordered
to do. I, with my crew—barely
a handful of men—could con-
quer all these islands with no
resistance whatsoever. The Indi-
ans always run away; they have
no arms, nor warring spirit.
They are naked and defense-
less, hence ready to be given
orders and put to work.”
—from the journal of
Christopher Columbus1495Christopher Columbus launches a campaign
to subjugate the Arawak.
On Hispaniola, Christopher Columbus attempts to
end Arawak attacks by terrifying the Indians into
submission. Armed with guns and on horseback,
Spaniards storm their villages. Although greater
in number, the Arawak cannot defend themselves
against European weapons. Hundreds are killed,
while others are taken prisoner. Columbus sends
500 captives to Spain as slaves and thereby earns the
disapproval of Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand,
who want the Indians to be converted to Christi-
anity rather than enslaved. Because of continuing
military strikes and epidemics of non-Indian dis-
eases, the Arawak will become extinct as a people
within 50 years.1497Americo Vespucci explores the coast
of “America.”
Americo Vespucci, an Italian adventurer sailing for
Spain, begins his six-year exploration of the coasts
of the West Indies and South America. Stories of
his travels will later be published as Mundus Novus
(1504–1505). In 1507 the book inspires German
geographer Martin Waldseemüller to give Vespucci
credit for discovering the great land mass between
Europe and Asia and to propose that it be called
America. Vespucci probably never actually sets foot
on the land named after him or encounters any of
its native inhabitants.June 24Italian explorer John Cabot claims the
North American mainland for England.
After a seven-week voyage, Italian navigator
Giovanni Caboto—known to the English as John
Cabot—arrives on the coast of what is now Lab-
rador. Cabot was granted by King Henry VII the
right to travel to North America to explore “what-
soever isles, countries, regions or provinces of the
heathen and infidels” and to “subdue, occupy and
possess all such towns, cities, castles and isles of
them found.”
For the next six weeks, Cabot explores the
coasts of present-day Nova Scotia and Newfound-
land. His exploration will provide a basis for
England’s later claims to North America, under the
doctrine of discovery.