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heh.... well here's mine.... a letter to the editor i sent in which was summarily butchered, in its full context: With Columbus Day approaching, it's apropos to offer a primer on history, reminding folks what all the ‘celebrating’ is really about. At the outset of the invasion, the Caribbean Islands were perhaps the most densely populated region in the world, most of those there being Arawak (Taino), a people Columbus referred to as 'the best under the sun' prior to their subjugation and eventual extermination. Hispaniola alone held upwards of 8 million. This number quickly atrophied to 3 million by 1496. The decline is often blamed on inadvertent spread of disease, as if the loss of population were entirely unintentional. This belies evidence to the contrary, and also the more obvious aspect - the systematic and intentional destruction of the West Indies through Columbus' own policies.
Many hundreds of thousands did perish from disease, though, the conditions which caused these pandemics arose mainly because of situations (e.g., famine, dispersal, slavery, unhygienic conditions) the conquistadors created. The natives were so plentiful, as to be considered expendable - and that’s how they were treated, as the unfathomable decline indicates.
All males over 14 were ordered to pay a tribute, usually of gold, at certain intervals, or they had their hands (or some other part) cut off and bled to death. Villagers were gathered into buildings and burned alive in scores. Slaves were made of all who were found, with many sent to Spain - thework so punishing oftentimes that they may only last a few months before they died (Columbus was one of the most prodigious slavers in history, responsible for the trans-Atlantic slave trade, first of Amerindians, then of Africans). Women were routinely raped, with Columbus remarking that girls of 9 and 10 were the most desirable among them. People were hanged in thirteens, 'honoring' Christ and the apostles. Others were simply tortured and burned at the stake. The Spaniards also had contests among them, seeing who could cut someone's head off, or other body area, with their swords. Or, they may gather up several dozen people, men, women, children, and chase after and kill them, for 'fun.' They would also sic large dogs on people and watch them be torn apart for entertainment. So horrifying was this life under Columbus' rule that many committed suicide in any manner they could. Women were aborting fetuses, even killing their infant children rather than let them grow and be hunted. Entire villages fled at the site of a single Spaniard.
Within a generation, virtually all of the natives were gone, including an aggregate population of around 12 million+ in the rest of the Caribbean. These numbers are difficult to grasp in their entirety, as are the horrors which created them. It's like the populations of Ohio and W.V., gone. Imagine the city of Parkersburg, invaded and destroyed, its denizens victims of a genocidal extirpation, itself perhaps only 1/400 of the sum of the destruction in the Caribbean. Think of your neighbors, friends, people you know... yourself. Enslaved, knowing no peace, being physically and mentally tortured ‘til you died. Then imagine people celebrating it.
Unconscionable, right? Yes… it is.
as you can gather, i live in a place called parkersburg (wv).... i used that and the populations of the two states to try and allow people to relate the total destruction of the greater antilles in some small manner, using the populations people here are more familiar with and can at least begin to grasp when the mere mention of so many millions, and such suffering, is unfathomable to begin with. |
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