Happy Columbus Day!

October 14, 2019 Hunter Wallace Caribbean History Series, History 21

I suppose this is a difference:

Happy Columbus Day!

Aside from Confederate Memorial Day, there is no public holiday in our culture which is more politically incorrect and hated by the liberal establishment than Columbus Day, which celebrates and honors the very illiberal discovery and conquest of the New World by Christopher Columbus and Spain which began an era of European settler-colonialism.

The following excerpts come Stephan Palmé and Francisco A. Scarano’s book The Caribbean: A History of the Region and Its Peoples:

“When Christopher Columbus and a mixed crew of mostly Spaniards entered the Caribbean Sea in October 1492, landing first on the island they named San Salvador, then Cuba, followed by Hispanolia, they encountered peoples and cultures unlike any they had known. Initially, they negotiated with and through the native rulers, as they would have done with any monarch. But as the number of “Indians” (an obvious misnomer; Columbus believed he had reached Asia) declined drastically and the number of Spaniards and mestizos increased, these delicately negotiated relationships began to break down. Yet, on Hispanolia from the initial “encounter era” through the 1520s, the occupiers’ violence toward the native population was accompanied by subtle and complex Spanish-Indian negotiations. These negotiations of conquest, articulated with constant violence, forged important patterns and set key precedents for the balance of Spain’s Caribbean conquests, as well as for the occupation and settlement of continental areas. …”

Poor Christopher Columbus.

He lived centuries before Europeans came up with classical liberalism during the Enlightenment. He is several more centuries removed from the liberal dogmas of multiculturalism and political correctness. In his time, international law didn’t apply to non-Christians.

“Columbus returned to Hispanolia in 1493 with 17 ships carrying some 1,500 conquistadors who were not as impressed as Columbus, particularly once they discovered that the Indians had massacred the 39 men left behind to collect gold. The faction supporting Columbus immediately clashed with the bulk of the Spaniards, who were supposedly under his command but resented him because he was a foreigner, not born to the nobility, and a poor administrator. Whereas Columbus planned to establish a trading fort on the northern shore of the island, the Spaniards’ principal goals – developed through eight long centuries of reconquest against the Moors in Iberia – were conversion of “the heathens” to Christianity and personal enrichment through conquest, settlement, and permanent domination of the entire region.”

The Spanish were a race of conquerors.

They had spent the previous several centuries reconquering their own homeland from the Moors. Both the Jews and Muslims in Spain were forced to convert to Catholicism and were ultimately expelled. The Protestants weren’t treated anymore fairly.

“Military squadrons under Columbus’s command built Fort Santo Tomás, the first of a chain of forts to protect the route between the gold-bearing mountains and the first Spanish town, La Isabella. Soldiers foraged throughout the interior, seeking food, gold, and women. …

In March 1495, Columbus and his brother Bartolomé led an all-out war to “pacify” the Tainos with the help of their ally Guacanagaríx  and his approximately 3,000 warriors. Guacanagaríx appears to have been a minor cacique intent on gaining prestige and power by allying with the newcomers. His actions set the precedent for later tactics on the part of conquistadors, including Hernán Cortés, whose cultivation of similar alliances on the mainland helped them to achieve their astonishing successes. The war lasted 10 long months, but its legendary version, written by Spaniards, barely mentions the contribution of indigenous allies and makes victory sound like the work of a day, attributed to the miraculous intervention of the Our Lady of Mercy at the Battle of Santo Cerro. This Spanish tendency to take all the credit for their victories, leaving their indigenous allies out of the conquest histories, would also continue on the mainland. …

Queen Isabella of Spain officially authorized Taino labor on December 20, 1503, supposedly for the laborers’ own good. Her decree led to the encomienda system, wherein indigenous peoples were “commended” to the care of a Spaniard, their encomendero, who was obliged by royal contract to feed and clothe his Indians (though he did not buy and could not sell them). The encomendero also had to ensure that they were taught the Christian faith and “civilized” ways. In return theoretically, the commended Indians would gratefully perform whatever labor their encomendero demanded of them. …

Perhaps as justification for their exploitation, Spaniards began to refer to the Tainos in their letters and reports as “primitives” and “barbarians,” because their beliefs, values, and customs were so different from those of the Europeans. Instead of finding the natives ripe for conversion because they were “without religion,” as Columbus had initially described them, Spaniards claimed that the Tainos practiced demon worship. …

Yet the Spanish crown dominated the new lands and the new people by decree of the people, whose 1493 bull had granted said dominion so that the peoples of the new lands could be taught the holy Catholic doctrine and converted to the true faith. Caught between two cross-purposes, the crown attempted to refine and regulate the encomienda system via the Laws of Burgos (1512), to protect commended Indians with their own specified rights. In this way the crown hoped to eliminate any basis for papal complaint.”

Pope Alexander VI divided the world between Spain and Portugal in the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494 which was later rejected by other European powers particularly my English Protestant ancestors but also by the French who challenged the Spanish in the Caribbean.

Note: Happy Indigenous People’s Day to blue checks hate reading this blog!

About Hunter Wallace 12390 Articles
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19 Comments

  1. Well. I liked this a lot. A Happy Columbus Day to you as well.

    I strongly support the Spanish in their conquest over savage pagans. This gave the Indians a chance to become Catholics and maybe save their souls. So by Catholic standards millions of Indians were baptized and gained heaven.

    The Left would support heathen savages no matter what. I guess they have no clue how barbaric the Aztecs and other tribes were. The Spanish were tough and knew how to handle matters for the most part. Any white liberal who sympathizes with Indians should have been captured by them and enjoy their hospitality.

    I have been recently more and more exposed to the American Left. They are not pretty.

    The Left will not shed one tear for the Indian tribes oppressed by the Aztecs. This was so extreme that most of the soldiers in the Spanish Army that sacked Mexico City were Indian allies who also committed most of the atrocities against the Aztecs.

    • Cristina,

      You beat me to it.

      Someone should make a video of the Aztecs sacrificing leftists to their blood thirsty gods like in Mel Gibson’s film “Apocalypto.”

      • November,

        I saw Apocalypto. It is a remake of the Cornel Wilde film the Naked Prey. I did not see Mel Gibson give credit to the Naked Prey in the credits after the movie. Maybe I missed them.

        Apocalypto seemed authentic and was a high budget film. I would imagine any film made about natives not worshiping them would receive some insults.

  2. The Conquistadors use of alliances makes me wonder how many auxiliaries the Romans would actually use conquering Gaul, Egypt, Carthage and Spain.

    Goes to show that the clever natives saw in Cortes and Pizarro a winningest ticket.

  3. I have mixed feelings about the White man’s rediscovery of the New World in 1492. It was something that resulted in the creation of 100 million mixed-breed mestizos and zambos. It gave the corrupt, decadent Roman Church a whole new dominion to rule over. And, perhaps worst of all, it helped to eventually establish an evil, ruthless, jew-controlled empire called the “United States”. Earlier white expeditions to this strange, barbaric wilderness did not result in any such global upheavals.

    • There wasn’t a Vatican or papal inspector general to audit the finances of the Roman Catholic Church back then. Most people were illiterate peasants that had little interest in church intrigue. Being on the wrong side of the RCC was a dangerous proposition in Europe for monarchs but even more for the average citizens.

      Leif Eriksson and his Vikings landed on North America three hundred years prior to Columbus, but the “New World” didn’t stay discovered until 1492.

      The Vikings were correct when they described the natives as “Scralings” (Norse for ugly people).

      • November,

        True enough. The Viking discovery was not followed up due to lesser technology perhaps unlike the Spanish discovery. The Indians were shocking to look at by European standards. The opposite was probably true.

        There were the Cloud People in the Andes who were an exception.

        The Spanish noted how white and tall the Cloud People were. Taller than the Spanish. They said the Cloud women were extremely beautiful, taller than the Spanish men, and were extremely gracious,fair skinned and kind. Unfortunately, they died due to Spanish diseases. The Spanish remarked they regretted that this happened.

        So how did the Cloud People arrive in South America before the Spanish and had lived there for a long time? A mystery.

        Yes, monarchs could be excommunicated which was frightful. If I was Queen Cristina I would do what I was told in religious matters. I would be afraid.

        • Cristina,

          That’s is truly a shame about what happened to the Cloud People. Maybe they were the original White Gods the natives thought the Spaniards were.

          Thank you for that nugget of knowledge. I will do some research on these Cloud People.

  5. “he lived centuries before Europeans came up with classical liberalism during the Enlightenment.”

    It’s a very specific kind of European that came up with liberalism, don’t imply that everyone is responsible for the stupid disease

  7. @November: I always enjoy reading your messages. Your insights provide fresh perspectives an shit.

    “Indigenous People’s Day”? The injuns have lived in the New World for around 15,000 years. By contrast modern White Caucasians have lived in Europe for at least 40,000 years. And it’s possible our prehuman hominid ancestors lived there a million years earlier. So why aren’t we considered indigenous to that continent?

    • Spahn,

      As if you need to be reminded, who writes the definitions and laws in the NWO.

      Here’s the abridged version:

      East Asian countries for East Asians.

      African countries for sub-Saharan negros and Arab tribes.

      India for East Indians.

      Greater Israel for the Jews.

      Organic and developed White nations are for everyone, unless you’re a xenophobic racist.

      That about explains post-1945 Frankfurt School geography.

    • >unironically believing in evolution
      cringe

      also thank God the english brang their own women over, of else we’d all be castizo!

      • Basedguy ,

        The debate is over. Biological evolution is undeniably true.

        Do you vacation at the Noah’s Ark theme park where human mannequins are riding in the backs triceratops?

        Now that is “cringe.”

        • I will not bother to try to convince you, but for those of us who do believe, I’m still waiting for apes to evolve to the point where I would trust one to work on my car. I don’t believe that my ancestors were a bit of amoebic slime that slithered out of the ocean and morphed from a squid to a platypus to a goat to a monkey to your mama, but you can cling to that ludicrous notion if you wish.

          There is something universally present in humanity that recognizes a higher power and a life after death. It is why we have a conscience, why we struggle with the decisions that we make rather than merely following primal instincts, why we seek truth instead of accepting conditions as they are. We are not members of the animal kingdom.

          We are all divinely created, inspired and driven, and although interpretations of the nature of a Deity may vary, we all seem to sense that we are being monitored from above.

          I do believe that we have been shown the true path through Christianity, and I have personally experienced divine intervention. There is nothing I can say or do that will change someone’s mind that is convinced that I am nothing more than a fool, but I will not allow them to transform me into an atheist, or even permit them to persuade me to revert back to the agnosticism that I embraced in my youth.

          If the debate is settled in your mind, then you are certainly within your rights to reject any and all efforts to convince you otherwise. But, I see Biblical prophesy revealed daily… I think of technology and medical science in terms of the Tower of Babel as man’s attempts to bypass God. I consider the mass consumption of cheap Chinese trinkets and the dismantling of the manufacturing base as Trading our Birthright for a Bowl of Pottage. I see barcodes and microchips as the Mark of the Beast. I deem automatic withdrawal, direct deposit and debit cards as the means to Restrict the Ability to Buy and Sell. And, I envision a One World Government materializing in the forms of the World Trade Organization, the International Monetary Fund, the United Nations, and International Tribunals.

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