When Columbus and his sailors came ashore, carrying swords, speaking oddly, the Arawaks ran to greet them, brought them food, water, gifts. He later wrote of this in his log:
They brought us parrots and balls of cotton and spears and many other things, which they exchanged for the glass beads and hawks' bells. They willingly traded everything they owned. ...They were well-built, with good bodies and handsome features. ...They do not bear arms, and do not know them, for I showed them a sword, they took it by the edge and cut themselves out of ignorance. They have no iron. Their spears are made of cane. ...They would make fine servants. ...With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want.
These Arawaks of the Bahama Islands were much like Indians on the mainland, who were remarkable (European observers were to say again and again) for their hospitality, their belief in sharing.
Racist acts by white men in the Americas began on October 14, 1492, two days after the arrival of Christopher Columbus. In his journal, Columbus tells about his actions that day: "These people are very unskilled in arms, as Your Highnesses will see from the seven whom I caused to be taken in order to carry them off." Indeed he brought the seven Tainos back to Spain to show to his patrons, along with parrots and produce. Ferdinand and Isabella then provided Columbus with 1,200-1,500 men, 17 ships, cannons, cross-bows, guns, cavalry, and attack dogs for his return this second voyage marks the real significance of Christopher Columbus, for in 1493 he undertook an enterprise altogether new in human history: the conquering of one land (Haiti, first) by another (Spain) an ocean away. at the same time he started the subjugation of one people ("Indians," as renamed by Columbus) by another ("Europeans," as they later came to be called, or "whites")' concomitantly introducing the ideology of racism. Soon enough a Catholic bishop in Spain was denying the basic humanity of Native Americans to rationalize enslaving them. We live with the consequences to this day.
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