Barleben #1

Tinker, George E., and Mark Freeland. “Thief, Slave Trader, Murderer: Christopher Columbus and Caribbean Population Decline.” Wicazo Sa Review, vol 23, no. 1, 2008, pp. 25-50., doi:10.1353/wic.2008.0002.

Observations and Excerpts: “This essay seeks to take away the flimsy excuses for the continued celebration of a violent historical figure, empire, and genocide” When Columbus landed on the island of Espanola,” The Taino population was nearly 8 million people. Over the years he was there, the population declined to about 200 people (See table 1 on page 33). Of his second voyage, Tinker believes “ It was this invasion that initiated this vicious and murderous cycle of conquest, murder, thievery, and enslavement.”  Columbus brought 1000 soldiers on his 17 ships of war, including cavalry.  No woman joined this voyage which is another detail that supports this voyage not as one of exploration but of exploitation.  “Colon was directly responsible for instituting this cycle of violence, murder, and slavery that resulted in the denial of adequate food, water, medicine, and cultural ceremonies to the Taino people.”

Abstracts: This article shows that there were lots of people on the island when Christopher Columbus landed there and most of them all died.