The World полностью

Isabella ruled that her Christian free subjects could not be enslaved. Columbus initially applied this principle to the peaceful Taínos, who were instead forced to work as indentured labourers while the cannibalistic Caribs were enslaved. Returning home to report to the monarchs with gold artefacts and a group of Taínos, he stopped off at Lisbon and boasted of his finds to a jealous King João, who considered having him liquidated. Back in Spain, he presented his treasures and prisoners to the monarchs, who were excited: ‘We have recently brought about the discovery of some islands and mainland in the Ocean Sea that’s part of the Indies.’ Appointing the two Columbus boys as pages to the heir Don Juan, Isabella sent the admiral back with seventeen ships, funded by money taken from the Jews, filled with colonists and soldiers to found a colony. On his four voyages, Columbus landed at Jamaica, Costa Rica and Panama, but Hispaniola (Haiti/Dominican Republic) was his headquarters, where he appointed his brother Bartolomeu as adelantado – military governor – and where they founded a town, Santo Domingo. But first Hispaniola, divided into chieftainships, had to be conquered; in response, the kasike of Maguana, Caonabo, tried to destroy the Spanish. Quickly the Columbuses exploited rivalries to recruit Taíno auxiliaries, while Spanish men seized local women as sex slaves or partners. The Columbuses led 200 Spanish troops and Taíno auxiliaries with war dogs against Caonabo, who was captured but died on the voyage to Spain. His widow, Anacaona (Golden Flower), fled back to the court of her brother Bohechío, kasike of the western Xaragua. Together they made peace with Bartolomeu Columbus and recognized Isabella. When her brother died, Anacaona ruled as kasike.

Columbus was determined to make a fortune. Nicknamed Pharaoh by his underlings, he turned out to be a thin-skinned, narcissistic tyrant. He sent 4,000 enslaved Caribs for sale in Spain, explaining that the settlements could be ‘paid for in slaves taken from these cannibals; we think they’ll be finer than other slaves once freed from their inhumanity’. Isabella disapproved, fearing that enslavement would undermine evangelization, but already Columbus’ depredations were provoking native resistance and Castilian resentment. Taíno rebellions were repressed. Rushing back to justify himself to Isabella, he mixed Christian mysticism with auric promises and whining insecurity, denouncing her courtiers who ‘criticize and belittle the enterprise’. The monarchs backed Columbus: ‘Your Highnesses’ reply was to laugh and say I shouldn’t worry about anything.’ Columbus returned to Hispaniola. But his misrule now provoked Castilian mutinies.

Finally Isabella sent a courtier, Francisco de Bobadilla, to find out what was going on and to help Columbus. Bobadilla arrived to find a heart of darkness – hanged bodies swinging from gibbets, the Columbuses hunting Spanish rebels, lording it over estates of Taíno slaves, cutting off tongues, ears and noses. The tropical colonies became a sexual playground for Spaniards: Columbus admitted their paedophilic depravity – ‘A woman can be had for a hundred castellanos … and there are plenty of merchants on the lookout for girls of nine or ten years old, currently the most expensive group.’ Columbus was arrested and sent back to Spain. His slaving offended against Isabella’s morality. ‘What power does my admiral have to give any of my vassals away?’ she asked, though she allowed the sale of more slaves while ordering, ‘You will ensure that the Indians are well treated as vassals.’ Instead these ‘vassals’ were installed as forced labour on plantations – encomienda – for Columbus and his henchmen. Yet Bobadilla proved no better. In 1502, Isabella sent Nicolás de Ovando, who arrived with thirty ships carrying 2,500 settlers. Among these were two settlers who would play major roles in the Americas: a young friar, Bartolomé de las Casas, and an ambitious youngster from Extremadura, Francisco Pizarro. The latter’s cousin, Hernán Cortés, missed the trip because he was caught in bed with a married woman and managed to fall out of the window – but he soon joined them. Ovando planted sugar cane; the Taínos were set to work on estates, treated as sex slaves and killed, often for little reason.

In 1503, Ovando and 300 solders approached the realm of Anacaona, kasike of the Xaragua, who welcomed them in style, but something went wrong. Fifty Spaniards were killed in the fighting. Anacaona was hanged, her people slaughtered. Ovando’s massacres showed his subordinates Pizarro and Cortés how to handle local rulers, but they appalled his priest, de las Casas.