Resistance and Rebellion to Early Spanish Conquest and Colonization (1492-1550
Resistance against the Spanish conquest started with the killing of Spanish troops and the destruction of fort La Navidad, in 1493 mandated by the Taino cacique, Caonabo. The Taino people were depicted as peaceful during the Spanish invasion, but they did not sit around as the Spaniards destroy their country. Columbus was in charge of the conquest of the Taino. He left Navidad under the custody of his men. The local people were thought to be destitute of weapons and cowardly as they walked naked. When Columbus returned to Navidad, he learned with shock that Taino killed all his men in a revolt that spearheaded by Caonabo, chief of the Maguana, which is cacique in the heart of the Island (Altman, 21). The reason for hostility and the revolt was the activities and behavior of foreigners on the Island. The Spaniards stale local people’s properties, raped women and underage girls, and the awareness that the powerful Spaniards intended to remain in the Island formed the cause of the revolt and rebellion. My paper will examine the Resistance and Rebellion of Early Spanish Conquest and Colonization (1492-1550).
The Taino revolt gave Columbus sleepless nights during his settlement to the eastern section of Espanola and the building of the town of Isabella in 1494. Several forts were built stretching to the goldfield of Vega Real in the center of the Island. They were prepared to wage armed warfare against the Taino. Still, he used treachery orchestrated by Alonso de Hojeda, who lured Caonabo with gifts and word of friendship to win his trust (Anderson-Córdova, 17). Caonabo was requested to appear in Isabela to sign a peace treaty, and when he arrived, he was imprisoned. The Taino under Manicatex mobilized over seven hundred people to attack the Spaniards and rescue Caonabo. The Taino had little knowledge about armed warfare, and the rescue against armed soldiers on horses turned into a massacre of Taino in 1494, the leaders were captured and deported to Spain along with Caonabo (Altman, 23). However, the Taino sunk the ship deporting their leaders as a last resort to resist Columbus and Spaniard’s oppression.
La Navidad fort was the first effort to establish the Spanish colony in the New World in the age of discovery, although it was destroyed in 1492. Columbus noted in his journal, “I have ordered a tower and fortress to be constructed and, a large cellar, not because I believe there is any necessity on account of the natives, Taino population” (Pohl, 31). It was at this point that he departed to gather the promised gold as he was confident that his people could subdue any resistance and rebellion staged by the Island population, which he described cowardly and naked. Calamity struck as soon as Columbus left because the engaged in immorality and wanted gold for themselves. Therefore, they divided some groups left with women to the gold mines. Caonabo, lord of the mines and leader of Taino, killed them and set the fort and all houses on fire, forcing the remaining men into the sea to draw while others were murdered onshore. This was what Columbus learned when he returned to Navidad in 1493. Don't use plagiarised sources.Get your custom essay just from $11/page
The natives of the new world, the Taino, formed a resistance group that rebelled against the Spanish rule and carried out Attacks on Forts in Hispaniola. The first fort to be constructed on the Island was the La Navidad fort, which was destroyed by Taino under the leadership of Caonabo. Columbus established a series of other forts in Hispaniola upon his return and defeated Caonabo and his brother. historical literature argues that the remaining Taino chiefs adopted collaboration to evade the aggression and demand of tribute in gold Spanish attitude. Some groups of Taino did not approve of collaboration as a realistic approach and advocated to form another uprising with the support of Francisco Roldan, the Taino under Guarionex planned attacks on fort Conception. Columbus’s brother, however, attacked the Taino by surprise at night, capturing fourteen Taino chiefs.
The Spanish rule compelled the Guarionex, and other Taino leaders decided that the aggression and the harsh Spanish governance system was not welcome, and organized war against the colonizers. It markets the outbreak of the 1495 wars during the early period of the Spanish conquest of the New World (Deagan, & María, 5). With more than tens of thousands of Taino warriors assembled to wage war against 200 Spaniards. The natives were primitive, without armor or even clothes. The Spaniards, on the other hand, were fully armored and riding on warhorses, trained dogs, guns, among other weapons. The first group to attack from the Spaniard’s troops was twenty armed horsemen inflicting considerable damage on Taino’s with swords and lances (Schwaller, 45). The second group was foot soldiers with blazing guns, one of the terrifying weapons to those who had never encountered a gun before. The final group was large dogs trained to kill humans; the Spanish had set the dogs loose to destroy the Taino warriors. The primary goal of the Spanish during the war was to kill as many Taino’s as possible. The war resulted in many Taino’s losing their lives because the Spanish had superior weapons and experience.
The Enriquillo Maroone community is the other group that formed the resistance against the Spanish in the New World. It was a community created by the runaway slaves of African and Indian origin. After suffering for a long time of oppression and aggression from the Spanish, Enriquillo openly contested and disregarded his status and fled to Bahoruco Mountains to form the first permanent maroon community constituting of runaway Indians and Africans throughout the Island (Oliver, 9). The community kept livestock and raided the Spanish settlements for food. Because of the terrain, the Spanish patrols failed to subdue the internal maroon militia, and the Spanish declared war against the Bahoruco in 1523.
Sebastian Lemba’s Maroon was a runaway slave that led a rebellion against slavery on the Island of Hispaniola. In 1532 Lemba and a group of maroons rose against Spanish colonizers and fled into the mountain in the Island. The 15 years that followed, Lemba and the maroons fought against the Spanish authorities and the settler in the Island. He organized night attacks and looting the towns across the Island, freeing many slaves (Ricourt, 12). This process ensured that the rebellion expanded with every attack because they freed more slaves who joined the resistance. At times, the aggression was made of over 400 rebels under the leadership of Lemba. The Towns they attacked include San Juan de la Maguana, Higuey, making Lemba the most wanted person on the Island. This was because his activities were a significant threat to the economies of the Spanish colonies.
In conclusion, the Spanish conquest and colonization of the New World encountered opposition from the locals, such as the Taino people. Resistance was fought on different fronts and using varied weapons between the Taino and the Spaniards. The account of the resistance has been explored in including the outcome; the defeat of Tainos, increased slavery, forced labor, and paying of tribute in gold. The revolution evolved from the Taino destruction of Navidad fort to the Taino wars, Enriquillo Maroon Community, and Sabastian Lembas Maroon.
Work Cited
Altman, Ida. “The Revolt of Enriquillo and the Historiography of Early Spanish America.” The Americas 63.4 (2007): 587-614.
Anderson-Córdova, Karen F. Surviving Spanish conquest: Indian fight, flight, and cultural transformation in Hispaniola and Puerto Rico. University of Alabama Press, 2017.
Deagan, Kathleen A., and José María Cruxent. Columbus’s outpost among the Taínos: Spain and America at La Isabela, 1493-1498. Yale University Press, 2008.
Oliver, José R. Caciques, and cemí idols: the web spun by Taíno rulers between Hispaniola and Puerto Rico. University of Alabama Press, 2009.
Pohl, John. The Conquistador: 1492–1550. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2012.
Ricourt, Milagros. The Dominican racial imaginary: Surveying the landscape of race and nation in Hispaniola. Rutgers University Press, 2016.
Schwaller, Robert C. “Contested Conquests: African Maroons and the Incomplete Conquest of Hispaniola, 1519–1620.” The Americas 75.4 (2018): 609-638.