Taino History.

After 55 days at sea, On November 19, 1493 Christopher
Columbus landed on the Island of Boriken. Contraire to European and American history, Boriken was not discovered by Columbus since this claim would prejudicially imply that the inhabitants of Boriken, The Taino's, who had resided on the Island 1,500 years before Columbus arrived could not, in their view, be accredited for discovering it.

Initially the interactions between the Spaniards and Tainos were civil, friendly interaction and limited trade became a standard everyday practice. Christopher Columbus quickly realized that the Taino people were not like Europeans, they were generous and gullible, this quickly fueled his sense of superiority over the Tainos, In his notes Columbus claimed that "They will give all that they do possess for anything that is given to them, exchanging things, such as gold even for broken bits of crockery" In his notes Columbus also described the phenotype of the Tainos by stating "They are very well built, with very handsome bodies and very good faces.... They do not carry arms or know them, and because of this concluded.... "They should be good servants" and because the Tainos believed the Spaniards to be men from the heavens, not equivalent to Yocahu but instead lesser Gods, they chose to serve the Spaniards graciously. 

Tainos who had no idea or notion of slavery were not aware that they their society was being slowly transitioned into a system of forced labor and tribute which demanded Gold and labor. Any Taino who did not meet the desired amount of Gold for the Spaniards experienced torture, such as the cutting off of hands, ears or nose for minor offenses and death for failing to meet Gold demands. By the end of 1493 the Tainos began to realize that the Spaniards were not men of God nor good people and initiated their first retaliation against Spanish forces by killing the crew left behind by Columbus at Fort La Navidad in Hispaniola