In 1492 Queen Isabella and Prince Ferdinand of Spain commissioned Christopher Columbus, from Genoa to sail westward across the Atlantic Ocean. The goal was to find a route to India for European trade. Neither he nor anyone else ever located the non-existent route.
For years North Americans celebrated Columbus Day on October 12. That is white Americans, but certainly not Hispanic, or Black, or Native Americans. Children sang the little ditty, “In 1492 Columbus Sailed the Ocean Blue” in school. The truth is Columbus never set foot on any part of the United States.
Alan Taylor author of “American Colonies” explored the violence and diseases forced on natives throughout Spanish colonies, French trading sites in Canada and English colonies all along the East Coast as well as the Great Plains and along the Pacific Ocean coast. Probably the most devastating gift Europeans gave the Indigenous people was a vast number of diseases; diseases to which no natives were immune on the newly discovered lands. As Spanish ships reached the islands, looking for precious metals, the conquers became aware the natives rapidly becoming extremely ill, unable to get up, to get water or food, and finally dying. Bodies were heaped throughout villages. Yet, the European seamen were not sick. It was almost as though the newcomers were immune.
Microbes, plants and animals from the different continents caused fevers, smallpox, measles, typhus, whooping cough, and pneumonia to appear. Crowded cities in Mexico and Peru had the same problems that occurred in large cities around the world this year. The hungry, overworked, and dislocated indigent people were most vulnerable to diseases.
The Spanish Crown was not pleased with the situations. They wanted the newly found people to be converted to Christianity and taught Hispanic lifestyles. Yet the Conquistadores who received large expansions of land were greedy. In their plans the natives would work like slaves from Africa. The Europeans planned to have the natives mine for gold and silver, oversee other natives in horticultural chores, herd livestock and simply work as slaves. According to Alan Taylor, no one seemed to question the deaths; they were merely frustrated with the lack of labor.
As groups of natives suffered disease, their numbers dwindled. Women and children were often captured to replace hundreds lost to the new diseases. Yet, stress and starvation caused women to lose the ability to reproduce.
Every colonial expedition carried at least one, usually several Catholic priests to convert the natives. Often the natives realized how important it was to pretend to convert for personal safety. In an idealist world, the landowners wanted Indians to serve as trading partners, guides, religious converts and military allies. Unfortunately, our world is not always idealist.