While both the system of the empire and king Ferdinand and queen Isabella are responsible for the deaths of millions of indigenous inhabitants of the Americas, Columbus himself is the most responsible. The system of the empire contributed to the death of millions of indigenous inhabitants because the europeans believed monetary value was all their was to life, they also needed private ownership of possessions. As stated in the documents, the system that the Europeans were taught made them believe that the amount of gold determines the value of your life. This would lead the europeans to do terrible things to the taino. Also the fact that the system also taught them to believe in private ownership, the taino did not believe in this, europeans …show more content…
As stated in the Document, Columbus took possession of the Taino land in the name of Spain. It is stated multiple times that Columbus had tainos enslaved without second thought. The document also stated that Columbus’s only goal was to exploit tailings for gold and resources. Columbus would also force tainos to collect gold for him, and if they didn’t return with the proper amount, he would torture them. The evidence supports my claim because in the document, when it talks about Columbus’s kidnapping, it mentions that the Taino’s made it very clear that they wanted to leave and not be comfortable with him, and he forced them to stay. In Columbus’s journal they found him saying that he was only being friendly with the tainos to exploit them, this checks out with his letter to the king and queen, as in the letter he also made his intentions clear when he said that they will be easy to make friendly, stating that he can make them worshippers of Christ. Columbus also would make 14 year old tainos find gold for him, he would give them a short time span of 3 months to find a ridiculous amount of gold and if they didn’t return with that he would order his men to chop of hands. When Columbus arrived in 1492, there were an estimated 3 million tainos living in the indies. Only one hundred years later, there were only 200 alive. This is