Part I: Voices from the Past
Â
Â
Â
Â
Chapter 1: From Discoverer to DungeonÂ
They called him El Negro–the Black.Â
His name was Pedro Alonso Niño. Pedro and his brothers were the first Black men to set foot on the shores of North America. No, they weren’t slaves. Far from it. Pedro was the Santa Maria’s pilot. Yes, that Santa Maria: one of the three ships of Christopher Columbus’1492 expedition. Pedro’s older brother, Juan Niño, was the owner and master of the Niña. Their younger brother, Francisco, was also with them when Columbus discovered America. These three brothers were Spaniards of African descent, well-known and experienced sailors.Â
On that first voyage, the explorers discovered the islands of the Bahamas, where the Arawak people lived. In this first encounter between Europeans and the indigenous people, the Arawakgreeted Columbus peacefully, bringing gifts. Columbus was mostly interested in whether they had gold. He quickly noticed the gold nose rings some the indigenous people were wearing,and through sign language, tried to persuade them to take him to their source of gold. They declined.
Columbus exploited the peaceful nature of the Arawak. “These people have little knowledge of fighting,” he wrote to the king of Spain. Columbus sent seven Arawak men to Spain, telling King Ferdinand that the indigenous people would be a good supply of slave labor. “With 50 men one could keep the whole population in subjection and make them do whatever one wanted.”Â
The Arawak people of the Caribbean lived a simple life of fishing and gardening. They were cleaner than the Europeans of that era, bathing several times throughout the day and keeping their thatched shelters pristine. They were polite, calling their elders “honored ones,” and rising to give others their seat. The Tainos people, of whom the Arawak were a sub-group, numbered between one to two million when Columbus arrived in the Bahamas, also living in what is now Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.Â
Sadly, most of the Arawak islanders quickly died from smallpoxand influenza – infections brought by the Europeans against which they had no resistance. The remnant of the Arawak who survived the pandemics mostly died from harsh enslavement under the Spaniards.Â
Columbus’ first voyage to the new world initiated a long history of slavery, exploitation, and cruel domination of people of colorin North and South America. It began with the indigenous people and continued with the African slave trade. Eighteen years after Columbus first reached America, Africans kidnapped from their villages would be brought to the Caribbean, replacing the slave labor of the Arawak and other Tainos people, who were dying out. But for now, the Niño brothers were free men. In fact, when they returned to Spain, Pedro Niño received the title “Grand Pilot of the Indies” from King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella.
Within months, Pedro and three other Niño brothers returned with Columbus to the Caribbean islands, with 17 ships, 1200 men, and supplies to establish permanent colonies. Franciscopiloted the Niña. Juan, and his son Alonso were on that voyage along with Pedro’s sons BartolomĂ©Â and Francisco, and his other brother, CristĂłbal, who piloted the Caldera.Â
As pilots and sailors, this family of African descent navigated around the islands they had previously discovered and explored new islands. Pedro returned to Spain in early 1994 – it’s not clear whether the other brothers did as well. If they stayed with Columbus, they would have seen and experienced horrors.Â
Columbus set up gold-mining colonies in the islands. His men brutally enslaved the Arawak and other Tainos people, raping their women and cutting off the noses, ears, and hands of their men for minor offenses. Thousands of the Tainos committed suicide, rather than face such a life.
Several years later, Pedro Niño made an independent voyage to the Indies, seeking treasure, from which he had to give 20% to the king. The Black explorer discovered the islands of Cubagua, Coche, and Isla Margarita off the coast of what is now Venezuela. Through trading with the indigenous people, PedroNiño amassed a treasure in gold and pearls and quickly sailed back to Spain with a great fortune.Â
In Spain, Pedro was accused of cheating King Ferdinand out of some of the treasures. He was thrown into prison and all hisfortune was taken. Despite Pedro Niño’s great explorations under the flag of Spain, Columbus received all the glory. El Negro, the Black, got nothing. Instead, he sat, penniless and sick, in a filthy and dark dungeon, dying in prison in 1505.
Â
