On May 5, 1494, Christopher Columbus, the Italian explorer, sailed west to get to the East Indies and came upon the region now called the West Indies. He landed in St. Ann, Jamaica.
He'd heard from the Cubans that Xaymaca was the "land of blessed gold".
Instead of gold, the mineral, he found a people - the Tainos - on the island. The Spanish enslaved the Tainos, who were so ravaged by the treatment and by foreign disease, nearly all of their race was extinct by 1600.
He'd heard from the Cubans that Xaymaca was the "land of blessed gold".
Instead of gold, the mineral, he found a people - the Tainos - on the island. The Spanish enslaved the Tainos, who were so ravaged by the treatment and by foreign disease, nearly all of their race was extinct by 1600.