exterminating the Indians; the latter availing themselves of the least opportunity to retaliate; and to crown the situation, the Spaniards killing each other.
On his return to Hispañola, Columbus suppressed the dissensions among his followers by establishing, in behalf of Roldan-Jimenes, the leader of the malcontents, what is known as the "repartimientos" system: he granted to Roldan and to his followers a certain quantity of land and a sufficient number of Indians to cultivate it. In that manner slavery began to appear; and Quisqueya had a new horror to add to the list of the calamities with which its unhappy inhabitants were already afflicted.
In 1500 Bobadilla succeeded Columbus; and the "repartimientos" system became worse. The "caciques" were compelled to supply every Spaniard with a certain number of Indians; these Indians were made to work under the guidance and in behalf of their masters, to whose heirs they were transferable.
Naturally this caused the natives to be still more highly displeased. Moved by their complaints the court of Spain appointed Nicholas Ovando governor of the island; he landed in Santo Domingo[1] on the 15th of April, 1502.[2]
The new governor had a good reputation, which he soon belied. It would seem that in reaching Hispañola the best-intentioned man laid aside his kind disposition to give way to his worst instincts. Thinking only of shipping as much gold as possible, in order to convince the King of Spain of the merit of his administration, Ovando was pitiless to the Indians. These unfortunate people, accustomed to the sunshine, were made to live in the depths of the earth; and many of them died from starvation and exhaustion.
From the Canary Islands Pierre d'Atença brought
- ↑ In 1496 Barthelemy built on the left bank of the Ozama a town which he called New Isabella and which became the headquarters of the administration. Destroyed in 1502 by a cyclone, the town was, in 1504, reconstructed, at the mouth of the same river, by Ovando, who called it Santo Domingo after Columbia's father.
- ↑ According to Placide Justin, History of Haiti, p. 32, Ovando arrived in Santo Domingo on April 15, 1501.
