The Voyage to the New World First of all, King Ferdinand of Aragon and Queen Isabella of Castille got married in 1464. The main reason that they got married wasto unite their kingdoms into Spain. The king and queen were RomanCatholic, so they gave power to certain people to convert non-Catholics toCatholicism. In 1482, the Roman Catholic monarchs renew the reconquista,the military crusade ordered to conquer the remaining Muslim state inIberia, Granada. In 1492, the Roman Catholic monarchs ordered allnon-converted Jews expelled from Spain. In April, 1492, Spain received reports that the Portuguesesucceeded in reaching the Indian Ocean, therefore Spanish monarchsauthorized Christopher Columbus to sail to Asia and establish trade andstart to convert natives to Christianity. The reasons that the monarchslet Columbus sail were mainly to search for spices and profits, spreadChristianity, and to use some of their new technology like the caravel.Columbus would receive one-tenth of all the profits, and governance of thenew lands would be shared by the monarchs and by Columbus.There were mainly three different types of natives who lived inthe Caribbean. There were the Ciboneys (in Cuba), Caribs (in the lesserAntilles), and Taino-Arawaks (in the Bahamas, Cuba, Jamaica, Hispanola,and Puerto Rico). The population of the Caribbean Islands was probablynot too much more than 1,500,000 of which about 1,000,000 lived mainly inHispanola. Hispanola was the center of Taino culture. Between 1509 and1520, the demand for native labor increased and the native populationsteeply decreased. Here is a table of how rapidly the population of theTainos decreased: 1492- 1,000,000 (about)1514- 28,0001508- 92,000 1518- 16,0001509- 62,000 1540- 2501510- 66,000 1570- 125 1512- 27,000By the 1540’s the native population of the Tainos did not even exceed1,000.In October 1492, Columbus’s ships we...
