PJ Vogt

1493, Christopher Columbus lands in Guadalupe, which at the time he would call Santa Maria de Guadalupe.

He's on his second voyage to the New World.

According to this one book I read called Cannibalism, A Perfectly Natural History by Bill Shutt,

Columbus's prime directive, like his mission from Spain, was to find gold in the islands.

I don't know why this belief was propagated, but the Europeans believed that silver was found in cold places and gold was found in hot places.

So according to their logic, it stood to reason this expedition was going to yield lots and lots of gold.

So he arrives with an army of 17 ships, lots of well-armed men, and he reports back to his sponsors in Spain that there's this one group of native people called the Arawaks.

And according to Columbus, these Arawaks, they are great.

He writes that the Arawaks, quote, are fitted to be ruled and to be set to work, to cultivate the land and do all else that may be necessary.

But, according to Columbus, the Arawaks warn that there's this other group on certain southern islands, and this group is not as nice.

They're called the Caribs.

The Caribs do not want to be ruled.

They're ready to fight.

And Columbus says that the Arawaks warn him, if the Caribs beat you in battle, they might eat you.

Columbus writes, quote,

Thus I have found no monsters, nor had a report of any, except in an island, Carib, which is the second coming into the Indies, and which is inhabited by a people who are regarded in all the islands as very fierce and who eat human flesh.

Yes, exactly.

And, like, some of them he seems like they're going to be helpful.

Some of them are not.

So these locals are called Caribs.