Columbus Reaches the Americas

Christopher Columbus, sailing under Spanish patronage, crosses the Atlantic and lands in the Caribbean, believing he has reached the Far East, a belief he never clearly renounced. The contact initiated sustained exchange between the Eastern and Western Hemispheres, including the transfer of crops, animals, diseases, and people, with profound and lasting consequences for both. Infectious diseases introduced from the Old World contributed to deadly outbreaks that killed large numbers of Hispaniola's Indigenous peoples, who were also subject to enslavement and other mistreatments by Columbus's government. Historians weigh the causes differently: one argues that slavery killed more of the Caribbean's Indigenous peoples than diseases such as smallpox did.