1495 Feb 24:Columbus authorized the forced boarding of 550 Taíno captives onto four ships at Isabela, Hispaniola, destined for the slave markets of Seville, …

1495 Feb 24:Columbus authorized the forced boarding of 550 Taíno captives onto four ships at Isabela, Hispaniola, destined for the slave markets of Seville, Spain. Approximately 200 captives died during the Atlantic crossing due to exposure and disease; their bodies were cast into the sea. The survivors reached Cádiz in April 1495, where they were handed over to royal official Juan de Fonseca for sale. Significance: This shipment institutionalized the transition from exploration to mass exploitation, applying the Mediterranean plantation labor model to the Western Hemisphere and triggering the first legal debates in Spain over the “humanity” and enslavement of indigenous peoples. ( Rouse, The Tainos;