When Christopher Columbus arrived in the Americas, he failed to find the gold he had promised the Spanish Crown.
In response, he and his men captured 1,500 Arawak men, women and children from Haiti in what historians now call a “slave raid.” Columbus selected 500 of the captives to take back to Spain; around 200 died on the voyage, and the survivors were sold.
Many historians believe Columbus resorted to enslaving indigenous peoples to appease his financiers. These slaves were forced to work in mines and subjected to brutal conditions.
Today, Columbus’ legacy is increasingly criticized, and his reputation as a hero has been replaced by the grim reality of his expeditions—marked by enslavement and violence against indigenous populations.
Columbus’ cruelty was condemned by Bartolomé de Las Casas, a Spanish historian and Dominican friar. Las Casas witnessed the massacre of Indigenous leaders and opposed the widespread enslavement of native peoples. Known as “The Defender and Apostle to the Indians,” Las Casas advocated fiercely for the rights of Native Americans. In 1543, he was appointed Bishop of Chiapas, Mexico, where he continued his campaign against Spanish colonial abuses.
In 2014, South Dakota and Berkeley, California, became the first U.S. places to recognize “Indigenous Peoples” Day on the second Monday of October, shifting the focus from celebrating Columbus to honoring Native American history. Other states followed, including Colorado, Vermont, New Mexico, and Hawaii.
In Mexico, October 12 is observed as Día de La Raza, celebrating indigenous heritage. Columbus has increasingly been ignored on this day, and statues erected in his honor have been vandalized.
Las Casas’ work “The Devastation of the Indies” condemned Spain’s colonial policies, and despite being banned in 1660, it continued to circulate and remains in print today.