Question

Why did Christopher Columbus name the people he met in the Bahamas in 1492 " Indians”?

Answer 1

Columbus called all the people he met in the islands 'Indians', because he was sure that he had reached the Indies. This initial encounter opened up the 'New World' to European colonisation, which would come to have a devastating impact on indigenous populations.

Answer 2

When Christopher Columbus arrived on the Bahamian Island of Guanahani (San Salvador) in 1492, he encountered the Taíno people, whom he described in letters as "naked as the day they were born." The Taíno had complex hierarchical religious, political, and social systems. Skilled farmers and navigators, they wrote music and poetry and created powerfully expressive objects. At the time of Columbus’s exploration, the Taíno were the most numerous indigenous people of the Caribbean and inhabited what are now Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. By 1550, the Taíno were close to extinction, many having succumbed to diseases brought by the Spaniards. Taíno influences survived, however, and today appear in the beliefs, religions, language, and music of Caribbean cultures.

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