First and foremost, an entire novel can be written about the “Christian” treatment of indigenous populations. I can start off by saying that anyone would not associate the treatment that Indigenous people received as Christian faith, in fact it goes against everything Christianity stands for today. As we all can come to an agreement—the Christians treated the natives of Hispaniola exceptionally bad. Christians of that time failed to realize what many people still to this day don’t realize; your race, class and/or religion does not make you superior to any opposing creed. In all reality most religions share common practices and majority of the same moral codes. Their core beliefs most of the time follow the same moral compass. The Spaniards unfortunately fell into the depths of greed for money and power which overshadowed their principles. Avidity for money and power can be productive and thrive, but not when you nearly wipe out an entire race of living humans. Following the settlement of Spanish colonists, the Tainos nearly became an extinct culture. In an article I read prior to taking this course on blackhistorymonth.org, the author explains how on Columbus’ second voyage he began to require a tribute which required anyone over the age of fourteen was expected to deliver a hawks bell full of gold, and if the gold was scarce, twenty-five pounds of spun cotton. If this tribute was not brought, the Spanish cut off the hands of the Taino and left them to bleed to death.
Even though that doesn’t fully incapsulate the long horrifying mistreatment, torture, and infliction of pain they put on an entire culture, but it definitely shows you the amount of avarice the Spanish had.
Nonetheless, their objective was gold and the goal was to get the indigenous people as far away from it as possible. The religion was a mere distraction placed to give reason as to why indigenous people should leave or be forced out of their original population. Christians used religion to justify the cruel and evil treatment they pressed upon the indigenous populations. The way indigenous people were treated by the Christians drove them to extreme measures such as suicide as a way out—as suicide accounted for a large portion of the decrease of the population.