1492-12-05
1492-12-05: (Columbus Claims Hispaniola for Spain, the Moment That Begins the European Colonization of the Island and the Destruction of Its Indigenous Taíno…
Haitian
1492-12-05: (Columbus Claims Hispaniola for Spain, the Moment That Begins the European Colonization of the Island and the Destruction of Its Indigenous Taíno Civilization): On December 5, 1492, Christopher Columbus arrived off the coast of Hispaniola and claimed the island for the Spanish crown. It was an act performed with flags and declarations that carried no meaning for the hundreds of thousands of Taíno already living there. What Columbus understood as discovery, the Taíno would soon experience as invasion, dispossession, and annihilation.