Caribbean: Sea of the New World

Author: German Arciniegas

This is a 486-page book about the first voyage into Caribbean Sea when new territories were discovered by Europeans, and how this new found world was occupied by them. Their expedition was followed by gold-diggers and so-called pioneers to Caribbean islands in search of treasures. It details crimes of Europeans in these islands, killing, torturing, and slaving natives, and looting and plundering their homes and lands. The barbarity of Europeans detailed in the book, towards not only natives of the newly discovered lands but also against each other is hard to imagine.

Caribbean Sea is semi-surrounded by several Spanish speaking countries, beyond which are Atlantic Ocean on the east and Pacific Ocean on the west and Gulf of Mexico on the north-west. According to other historical documents, Columbus was not the first to travel to those lands, but Chinese had ventured long before them, learning from their way of life and trading with inhabitants, instead of enslaving them.

The book starts with the sixteenth century as the golden age in Europe, not only Spain, but also for England and France, as these three countries were homes to Cervantes, Shakespeare, and Rabelais, during that time. Also, this is the year that Europeans traveled beyond their territories and discovered another world, a continent later called America. “The Caribbean in the sixteenth century, was like a gaming table, where the crowns of the kings of Europe were the stakes and the pirates rolled the dice” (P.4). The book goes beyond the sixteenth century and expands its views into other geographical areas and discusses in brief dark ages and how the world was such a dark place during that time. It also begins to paint a vision of Mediterranean of those days into the Caribbean Sea. That is when these two bodies of water face each other, one image of the past and the other reflecting what future holds.

Amerigo, where the name America comes from, and Simonetta Vespucci are described in detail as to their upbringing and their adventures. The book claims that Vespucci family were behind all the great things happening those days in Italy, as they were bold and creative. The book also describes the roots of events and places. For example, Carib, where the name Caribbean is referred to, means “wild Indian”. Per the definition in Webster dictionary, Carib is a member of Indian people of northern part of South America and the Lesser Antilles, also the language of Caribs. At any rate, the sea has somehow been named after the natives living in the surrounding lands.

We have witnessed in the past few decades, adventurist men looking at the sky and traveling to other heavenly bodies, which were unknown worlds at the time. The same thing can be said about Amerigo Vespucci and Christopher Columbus, traveling to unknown worlds. However, in the case of our astronauts, we could search the unknown worlds through our satellites ahead of time, but in the case of those ocean travelers they relied only on their compasses. Therefore, it was more heroic for them to travel to those unknown lands. However, the brutality they showed towards the inhabitants is nothing to compare with.

The book follows Columbus’ sails into the new world (as the book calls it), based on his diaries. It is of course a new world to these adventurers, as for the inhabitants of these islands, their world might had even been older than the one those sailors were arriving from. As the book mentioned on several occasions, it is gold that had been the goal of Columbus’ travels. All his trips to the new discovered islands are discussed in detail in the following chapters of the book, and the misery befalls him with gout and other health problems, preventing him being welcomed by the king and queen after his last trip and as he expected.

Santo Domingo is the first island that Spaniards call it a city and install a governor. A couple of hundred Spaniards call this place their home and live there with their slaves and some Indians to serve them. This is the beginning of taking over the lands previously occupied by native Indians, and governing a continent new to the Europeans, called America.

Native Americans (always called Indians in the book) did not have the same weapons as the intruders, so they could not defend themselves and were forced to follow: “While Spaniards were finding this New World their oyster, the Indians were growing more and more resentful. The newcomers would not let the Indians’ women alone (P.53). Not only men were enslaved, women became sex slaves to hungry Spaniards. At the point of their muskets, they forced Indians of hard work in mines: “When the men returned they found their homes in ruins. The women, rather than raise children to be slaves, killed them at birth” (P.53). In addition to Indians, slaves from Africa were imported by ships from Spain, bringing in addition gunpowder, garlic, and oil; and returning with sugar, gold, and pearls. After twenty-five years of Spaniards in Santo Domingo, the island looked totally different. Natives learned Spanish and inter-racial babies, half Indian half Spaniard, were born. There was a Spanish governor running the island, while number of Indians and Africans dwindled.

After Columbus returns from his trips and when his discoveries become common knowledge, a pen pusher by the name of Rodrigo de Bastidas decides to follow Columbus’ footsteps and to discover lands which Columbus did not visit. He named one of these lands after his benefactor, Columbia. However, the one who made the first map of the new world, the one who accompanied both Columbus and Bastidas to the new world was Juan de la Cosa, who is remembered as the first person to make a map of the new world. Another Spaniard who became famous was Alonso de Hojeda who “introduced the praiseworthy custom of cutting off the Indians’ ears or noses to teach them…” (P.63).

Looking for gold and other treasures, there are ships after ships that follow Columbus’ trait and in the meantime, they take other routes and discover different islands. While Europeans were pushing their ways into these new discovered islands, those who already inhabited those islands were either abused or ignored. There was no respect for the people who had called those islands their homes for thousands of years: “With every raid the Spaniards made into the interior they only sowed terror and invited reprisals. Herrera tells that Pedrarias’s captains roasted the Indians alive, set the dogs upon them, rand them through with their lances, killed them for their fat with which they cured their wounds, kept haunches of Indians hanging on hooks to feed their hunting dogs.” (P.76)

Spain becomes rich and powerful thanks to treasures stolen from new discovered lands’ natives. Other European countries decided to enrich themselves by traveling to those lands as well. This became a cause for wars between those countries, that the book discusses in detail. However, killing and maiming the original inhabitants of these islands, to steal their wealth, continued. The extraordinary violence was not merely against the natives, but Europeans’ brutality against African American slaves, and even against each other. Some of the stories mentioned in the book makes one disgusted to even read about it. Just a few of those mentioned in the ending chapters about African slaves is presented below:
“But what a site it was to see the hairdresser visit his clients ‘in a suit of silk, his hat under his arm, a sword at this belt and a cane in his hand, followed by four Negroes. One of them combed the client’s hair, another arranged it, a third curled it, and the fourth put on the finishing touches. The hairdresser supervised the operation, and at the slightest mistake he whacked the Negro, who went on with his work without saying a word, even though he had to pick himself up off the floor.’” “The Negros of this ‘Paris of the Antilles’ were publicly whipped in the streets, salt and lemon juice being put on the wounds to prevent gangrene from setting in. To punish a cook who let a cake in the oven burn, the mistress would go out to the kitchen and say: ‘throw that nigger into the stove!’ As the cook perished in the flames, the lady would return to her social obligations in the drawing-room, polite and unruffled. In the country the slightest disobedience was punished by burial alive, the culprit’s head was left exposed, molasses was poured over it, and the ants finished the job. Of course, nobody liked doing such things. A negro cost money, and losing one was like having a house burn down. But it was the only thing to do if the others were to be kept in line.” (P.318)

“Bringing in the Negroes from Africa was a problem. They would riot in the round-up pens and on the ships. The only way to handle them was to shackle them to long bunks, like counters, and take them on the deck, chained together, once a day. To gain space they were sometimes packed in so close together that they could lie down only on their sides, fitting together like spoons. The stupid beasts had a strange propensity toward suicide. Sometimes when they were brought on deck to dance for the captain’s entertainment, the more agile would throw themselves over the rail into the sea. The Negro Mackandal planned a revolt once… The plan leaked out and Mackandal was burned alive.” (P.319)

“louis XIV had drawn up a code of laws for the protection of the Negroes… It began by saying that Jews, being enemies of the Christian faith, should leave the islands within the space of three months, under penalty of having their persons and goods confiscated; that slaves to be baptized;… The slave who should attack his master or mistress was to suffer the death penalty…” (P.320)

This is how civilized Europeans treated non-whites. Of course, it is not any better these days, looking at the way American and European governments treat other nations of the globe, by any imperialistic tool they have available to them, including military posts all over the world and by installing poppet governments on Asian and African countries, where raw materials are exploited. However, this is another story!

Instead of discussing each chapter of the book, reading it is recommended. The book, Caribbean, Sea of the New World, is a good source of information for those who enjoy history, as it explains in detail life in Caribbean islands, sometimes before the arrival of Europeans, and in more detail after Europeans discover those lands and establish their own governments.