Columbus Landing on Hispaniola. Image retrieved from http://www.accessgenealogy.com.
It is thought that the Taíno were the first indigenous group in the West Indies to come into contact with Europeans. These events would become one of the greatest atrocities in colonial history. What was once a population estimated to be between 1-2 million people, was considered extinct by the mid 1500’s. These deaths were a result of slave labor, work in gold mines, exposure to European disease, starvation, mass killings, and at times, suicide.
The Taino 