Santo Domingo: A Country with a Future - Otto Schoenrich

Скачать книгу

the fort and the village of Guacanagari. At the same time it was stated that the Spaniards had made themselves hateful to the natives by their domineering disposition and their lewdness and covetousness. The finding in some of the native huts of objects that had belonged to the colonists, as well as other suspicious circumstances, caused Father Boil and other companions of Columbus to doubt the chief's story and insist that sanguinary vengeance be taken. Columbus, however, affected to be satisfied with the explanation given and determined to take no further action, but to seek a new location for the colony. From this time forward discord divided not only the Spaniards and Indians but also the Spaniards themselves.

      As the fleet was sailing east the weather obliged it to put into an indentation of the coast fifty miles east of Monte Cristi. The place so charmed the Spaniards that it was decided to found a town here. The first city of the new world was therefore laid out and Columbus gave it the name of Isabela, in honor of his royal patron. During the construction of the city Columbus sent two expeditions to the Cibao mountains, both of which succeeded in collecting a large amount of gold.

      It soon became evident that the neighborhood of Isabela was not a healthy one. Fever invaded the colony; Columbus himself was not exempt. Discontent came and an uprising among the soldiers was nipped in the bud. On recovering from his illness Columbus resolved to make an exploration of the interior; and with drums beating and flags flying a brilliant expedition left Isabela. The beautiful Royal Plain was soon reached and friendly relations established with its peaceful inhabitants, whose wonder at the Spaniards and terror at their horses knew no bounds. A fortress was founded on the banks of the Janico river and called Santo Tomas. Columbus then returned to Isabela to find the town in a state of excitement on account of petty quarrels and the general sickness. Picking out the principal malcontents he sent them to Santo Tomas, and ordered that another fortress be founded. On April 24, 1494, he left the island with three vessels for a voyage of exploration to the west, entrusting the government of the colony to his brother Diego and an executive council.

      But a short time elapsed before new dissensions broke out, followed by troubles with the Indians. A military expedition dispatched to the interior committed numerous depredations and drove the natives into the ranks of Caonabo, who was planning the expulsion of the strangers. The commander of the expedition, Moisen Pedro de Margarite, was called to account by Diego Columbus; but conspiring with Father Boil, the religious head of the colony, the two contrived to excite a popular insurrection against the governor, which may be regarded as the first Dominican revolution. At this time Bartholomew Columbus, another brother of the admiral, arrived with provisions, and the insurrectionists, taking possession of the ships, returned in them to Spain where they lost no opportunity to disparage the achievements of Columbus and to slander him and his brothers.

      The principal caciques of the island now formed an alliance and uniting their forces laid siege to Santo Tomas. Only Guacanagari refused to join them and hurried to Isabela to offer his services to the Spaniards. At this juncture, on September 29, 1494, Columbus, sick and weary, returned from his voyage, during which, after other discoveries, he had explored a portion of the south coast of the island. As soon as he had recovered sufficient strength he led an expedition into the interior, relieved Santo Tomas, won numerous victories over the natives and founded another fortress, La Concepcion, in the Vega Real, or Royal Plain. Caonabo, however, assembled a vast number of warriors and forced Columbus to renewed efforts. The Spaniards and Indians met where the ruins of the old city of Concepcion de la Vega now are, and the famous battle of the Royal Plain was fought on March 25, 1495. The natives are alleged by the Spanish historians to have numbered 100,000, while the Spaniards had but 200 men and 20 horses, besides the warriors of Guacanagari. In the battle, a bloody one, the Indians were completely beaten, their discomfiture being due principally to the superior arms of the Europeans and the fear inspired by the horses and by twenty blood-hounds brought into the fight by the Spaniards. On the occasion of this battle the miracle of the Santo Cerro, or Holy Hill, is said to have occurred, when, according to the Spanish chroniclers, the Indians captured an eminence on which the Spaniards had erected a wooden cross, but were unable to destroy the cross with fire or hatchet, and were finally frightened away by the apparition of the Virgin Mary.

      This one crushing defeat definitely broke the Indians' power, for though there were subsequent outbreaks they were only sporadic and, with one exception, of comparatively little importance. Caonabo still remained at large and the Spaniards secured possession of his person by one of those feats of individual prowess which mark the history of the conquest. The Spaniard Alonso de Ojeda went out in search of the cacique, and having found him with his warriors, suggested that they repair to Isabela together to arrange terms of peace with Columbus. The suggestion being accepted, they set out and on crossing the Yaque river Ojeda pressed the Indian to put on a pair of handcuffs, asserting that these bracelets were a distinction of the king of Castile. Caonabo acceded, whereupon the Spaniard sprang upon his horse and swinging the chief upon the croup, fled from the midst of the astonished warriors and bore him a prisoner to Isabela. Caonabo was later embarked for Spain but died on the voyage.

      A beginning was now made of the harsh oppression which was soon to cause the entire disappearance of the native race. A quarterly tribute was imposed on every Indian above the age of fourteen. Those who lived in the auriferous region of the Cibao were obliged to deliver as much gold dust as could be held in a small bell, others were to give twenty-five pounds of cotton. Many natives fled to the mountains to escape the onerous tax and new settlements were established by the Spaniards.

      The enemies of Columbus had in the meantime been sufficiently successful in Spain to cause one de Aguado to be sent out with the object of investigating conditions in the colony. His conduct from the very first was so arrogant that the admiral determined to return at once to justify himself before the court. On March 10, 1496, he embarked for Spain, leaving his brother Bartholomew as governor of the colony.

      Before his departure the news arrived of the discovery of several rich gold mines in the southern part of the island. They were found by a soldier named Miguel Diaz, who having fled to the wilderness to escape punishment for wounding a comrade, had established conjugal relations with an Indian woman near the present site of Santo Domingo City. Noticing that her consort was tiring of her, the lady tried to retain him by revealing the existence of gold deposits in the region; and Diaz promptly secured his pardon and promotion by reporting the find to Isabela. The romance had a sad ending, for the Indian, shocked at the cruel treatment accorded her countrymen by the Spaniards who came to the place, abandoned her husband and children and disappeared in the forest.

      On arriving in Spain, Columbus wrote his brother to found a town on the south coast at the mouth of the Ozama. Bartholomew Columbus immediately set out to select a site and on August 4, 1496, laid the first stone of the new city on the left bank of the Ozama, calling it Nueva Isabela, in honor of the queen. The name was afterwards changed to Santo Domingo in honor, so tradition has it, of the saint to whom the day of its foundation was dedicated. As the location of this city was much healthier than that of fever-ridden Isabela on the north coast, the settlers in an ever increasing stream removed to the new town which flourished as the other decayed, until after a few years Isabela was entirely abandoned. The only vestiges now remaining of it are a few ruined foundation walls and shapeless heaps of stone overgrown with rank tropical vegetation.

      Bartholomew Columbus busied himself with further explorations of the interior, founding a number of strongholds, among them Santiago de los Caballeros, which commanded the Royal Plain. While at Concepcion de la Vega he was informed that several Indians had burned an altar erected by friars in the interior, and had buried the sacred images. The bigoted governor had the Indians apprehended and burnt alive in the public square. This cruel act induced fourteen caciques to conspire for an uprising; but their designs being betrayed, they were captured by a bold stroke and two of them executed. Determined to crush the spirit of the natives, Bartholomew Columbus invaded and devastated the district of Monte Cristi, driving the Indians into the remote forests and capturing and imprisoning their chiefs.

      His severity was not confined to the Indians, but the Spaniards, naturally restive under the government of a Genovese, were also made to feel it until their disaffection developed into open rebellion.

      At the head of the conspiracy was Francisco Roldan, the judge of the colony,

Скачать книгу