Slavery has probably been around since the first humans appeared on Earth and has taken a wide variety of forms.
But if you speak of slavery today, most people will envision that practice of snatching Africans from their homeland and transporting them far away to be sold like cattle.
Putting another slant on the subject is Andrés Reséndez’s book “The Other Slavery: The Uncovered Story of Indian Enslavement in America,” whose title suggests that the author is addressing a system perhaps as bad as the one perpetrated upon Africans.
I must confess I was jolted by what the author has to say regarding Christopher Columbus and his plans for the new lands he discovered. I was obliged to quickly remove Columbus from that pedestal he had been occupying in my mind since my childhood.
Admiral Columbus — apart from being a skillful and imaginative navigator—was also a shrewd and experienced businessman, notes Reséndez. When he made an agreement with King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella in April 1492, he insisted that clauses be added to the contract giving him one tenth of “all the merchandise, whether pearls, precious stones, gold, silver, spices, and any other marketable goods of any kind, name, or manner that can be bought or bartered.”
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