The Tainos and Caribs Quotes

“As the natives offered up gifts, and the open hand of friendship, and by implication the freedom of their islands, Columbus remarked simply on their primitive appearance and primaeval technology, and how easy they would be to overcome. He noted, “They do not bear arms, and do not know them, for I showed them a sword, they took it by the edge and cut themselves out of ignorance. They have no iron. Their spears are made of cane. They would make fine servants. With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want.”
― Charles River Editors, The Tainos and Caribs: The History of the Indigenous Natives Who Encountered Christopher Columbus in 1492

“The island people arrived alongside his ships, offering humble gifts that Columbus described as “parrots and balls of cotton and spears and many other things, which they exchanged for the glass beads and hawks' bells.” These were the Taínos people, or the “Arawaks” as they would come to be known, and Columbus described them as “well built…with good bodies and handsome features.”
― Charles River Editors, The Tainos and Caribs: The History of the Indigenous Natives Who Encountered Christopher Columbus in 1492

“As soon as I arrived in the Indies, on the first Island which I found, I took some of the natives by force in order that they might learn and might give me information of whatever there is in these parts.” – Christopher Columbus On October 12, 1492,”
― Charles River Editors, The Tainos and Caribs: The History of the Indigenous Natives Who Encountered Christopher Columbus in 1492