When Christopher Columbus arrived in the New World in October 1492, the people living on the island thought that Columbus and his men were gods. They were amazed at their big colorful ships and their beautiful clothes.
Columbus called these native people "Indians", because he believed he had sailed to India. The people that met Columbus were actually the "Tainos".
At first, Columbus and the Tainos people were friendly. The Tainos welcomed the Europeans into their homes and showed them around islands that were close by.
Friendly relations did not last long. As the Europeans searched for riches and tried to force the Tainos to become Christians, fights began. The Tainos had only simple weapons. They were no match for the powerful weapons of the Europeans.
Some of the Tainos were killed. Some were crowded into ships and sent to Spain as prisoners. Many more were made to work like slaves in their own land.
This bad treatment of the indigenous native people has led some to oppose the celebration of Columbus Day. Since 1990, some states and and cities have renamed Columbus Day "Indigenous Peoples Day".
Source: wordville.com/columbus/reading/ColumbusNatives.html Columbus and the Indigenous People
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