HISTORICAL SKETCH.—DAYS OF THE CONQUEST.—1492 to 1533

Aborigines.—Discovery.—Founding of Isabela.—Disaffection of the colonists.—Indian wars.—Oppression of the Indians.—Founding of Santo Domingo City.—Roldan's insurrection.—Humiliation of Columbus,—Ovando's administration.—Extermination of the natives.—Administrations of Diego Columbus.—Treaty with Indian survivors.

When Columbus, in December, 1492, sailed along the northern coast of the island of Haiti or Santo Domingo, he was more enchanted with what he saw than he had been with any of his previous discoveries. Giant mountains, covered with verdant forests, seemed to rise precipitately from the blue waters and lift their heads to the very clouds. Beautiful rivers watered fertile valleys, luscious fruits hung from the trees, fragrant flowers carpeted the ground, and the air was filled with the songs of birds of gay plumage. There were scenes of nature's magnificence such as are found only in the tropics. Columbus, as he gazed upon them in admiration, little thought that this beautiful island was to witness his greatest sorrows, that it was to be his final resting place, and that it was in later generations to become the theater of long years of war and carnage.

At the time of its discovery the island of Santo Domingo was thickly inhabited. The native Indians were Arawaks belonging to the same race as those who occupied the other larger West India Islands. Unlike the fierce Caribs who inhabited some of the smaller Antilles, the Arawaks were of a gentle and meek disposition. They were inclined to idleness and sensuality. Columbus lauded their kindliness and generosity; the possession of these traits, however, did not prevent them from fighting bravely when exasperated.

Living in the stone age, they knew none of the useful metals, but gold ornaments were used for adornment. Older men and married women wore short aprons of cotton or feathers; all other persons went entirely nude. Their favorite amusements were ball games and savage dances with weird, monotonous music; their religion was the worship of a great spirit and of subordinate deities represented by idols, called "zemis," carved of wood and stone in grotesque form, and of which some are still occasionally found in caverns or tombs. They dwelt in rude palm-thatched huts, the principal article of furniture being the hammock. Simple agriculture, hunting and fishing provided their means of livelihood.

The natives called the island Haiti, signifying "high ground," but the western portion was also called Babeque or Bohio, meaning "land of gold" and the eastern part Quisqueya, meaning "mother of the earth." The name Quisqueya is the one by which Dominican poets now refer to their country. The inhabitants lived in communities ruled by local caciques, and the country was divided into five principal regions, each under an absolute chief cacique, as follows:

Magua, signifying "watered plain," the northeastern part of the island and comprising most of what is to-day known as the Cibao—that part of the Dominican Republic lying north of the central mountain-range. The chief was Guarionex.

Marien, or Mariel, comprised the northwestern portion of the island and was ruled by Guacanagari.

Jaragua comprised the southwestern part, its chief being Bohechio, the oldest of the caciques.

Maguana extended from the center of the island to the south coast near
Azua and was ruled by the proud Caonabo.

Higuey, or Higuayagua, the most bellicose portion of the country, comprised the entire southeast and was ruled by Cayacoa.

Columbus happened upon the island on his first voyage. After discovering Guanahani on October 12, 1492, and vainly searching for Japan among the Bahama Islands, he discovered Cuba and while skirting along the north shore of what he supposed to be the mainland heard of an island said to be rich in gold, lying to the east. Taking an easterly course, he was abandoned by the Pinta, one of his caravels, whose captain, disregarding the admiral's signals, sailed away to seek his fortune alone. Continuing with his remaining caravels, the Santa Maria and the NiÑa, Columbus reached Cape Maisi, the easternmost point of Cuba, where he sighted a high mountainous land lying in a southeasterly direction. On the following day, December 6, 1492, he reached this land, which he called la EspaÑola, because it reminded him of Andalusia. In English histories the name is modified to Hispaniola. The port Columbus called San Nicolas, as he had entered it on St. Nicholas day, and it is now known as Mole St. Nicolas.

Columbus then sailed along the north coast of the island and entered the pretty little port known to-day as Port-À-l'Ecu. Here, on December 12, he solemnly took possession of the country in the name of his sovereigns, erecting a wooden cross on a high hill on the western side of the bay. He then visited Tortuga Island, to the north, giving it this name on account of its shape and the great number of turtles in the water near its coast. After stopping in a harbor which he called Puerto de Paz, Port of Peace, because of the harmony which prevailed at the meetings with the natives, Columbus continued in an easterly direction, but adverse winds compelled him to put into the bay of Santo Tomas, to-day bay of l'Acul, where the cordial intercourse with the natives was renewed. Here he received an embassy from the chief of the district, Guacanagari, inviting him to visit the cacique's residence, further along the coast, and bringing him as presents a wampum belt artistically worked and a wooden mask with eyes, tongue and nose of gold.

To accept the invitation Columbus set sail on the morning of December 24. In the evening when the admiral had retired the helmsman committed the indiscretion of confiding the helm to a ship's boy. About midnight when off Cape Haitien, near their destination, the vessel was caught in a current and swept upon a sandbank where she began to keel over. During the confusion which followed, Columbus had the mainmast chopped down but all efforts to right the ship were in vain, and Columbus and the crew were obliged to take refuge on the little NiÑa.

As soon as Guacanagari received news of the disaster he sent large canoes filled with men to help the strangers transport their stores to the shore. The relations between the Spaniards and the Indians became most cordial, especially as the Spaniards were gratified to obtain much gold in exchange for articles of insignificant value, owing to which circumstances and to the natural advantages of the location, Columbus determined to build a fort with the wreckage of his vessel. The fort was on a hill east of the site of the present town of Cape Haitien. Columbus gave it the name of La Navidad because he had entered the bay on Christmas day, and leaving thirty-nine men as colonists set out on the NiÑa on January 4, 1493, on his return trip to Spain.

Near the great yellow promontory on the north of the island, to which Columbus gave the name it still retains of Monte Cristi, the Pinta, which had deserted the other vessels off Cuba, was sighted. Columbus having heard the excuses of the Pinta's captain, took no action with respect to the latter's delinquency, but set about exploring a large river in the vicinity to which he gave the name of Rio de Oro and which to-day is called the Yaque. Continuing the journey along the coast of the island the vessels rounded the giant promontory of Cape Cabron and that of Samana and entered the great bay of Samana which Columbus at first took to be an arm of the sea. Here it was that the first armed encounter between sons of the old world and the new took place. The Indians set upon the Spaniards when they landed but were quickly driven to flight, one of their number being severely wounded. On the following day, however, a more pleasant meeting took place and presents were exchanged. On January 16 the two vessels set sail for Spain.

The immense excitement produced in Spain by the discoveries of Columbus made the preparation of another expedition an easy matter, and on September 25, 1493, the admiral again set out from Spain, this time with sixteen ships and some 1300 men. After touching at several of the Leeward Islands and Porto Rico, the fleet sighted the Samana peninsula on November 22, 1493, and three days later arrived at Monte Cristi. Here the finding of two corpses of Spaniards filled the members of the expedition with grave apprehensions, which proved justified when two days later they arrived at La Navidad and found the fort completely destroyed, the Indian village burnt to the ground, and the whole neighborhood silent and desolate.

Guacanagari was found at a village further inland and according to his story and that of other Indians, a number of Spaniards had succumbed to disease, others were killed in brawls among themselves and the remainder died at the hands of the inland caciques Caonabo and Guarionex and their warriors, who attacked and destroyed both 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, a man ambitious and seditious by nature, but who owed Columbus many favors. Others, disgusted because their dreams of gold had not been realized, followed him and the insurrection was soon well under way. The rebels took Isabela and sacked the government storehouse and then took steps to besiege Bartholomew Columbus at Concepcion de la Vega. The arrival of fresh troops and stores from Spain enabled the governor to hold the rebels in check.

Such was the deplorable state of affairs when Columbus returned to the island on August 30, 1498. Realizing Roldan's strength, he consented to make terms under which the insurgents were to receive stores and other property and return to Spain. By the time their vessels were ready most of them had changed their mind and declined to go, but they wrote letters to Spain bitterly complaining of the admiral and his brothers, and accusing them of oppression and despotism. Columbus found himself obliged to agree to the most humiliating terms with the rebels, conceding a complete pardon, restoring them to their official posts, promising to pay their salary in arrears and distributing lands and Indians among them. Nevertheless, other quarrels followed, Columbus was forced to take severe measures and the complaints against him grew.

Little by little the stories of arrogance and oppression circulated with reference to the Columbus brothers undermined the esteem in which they were held by the sovereigns, who were also disappointed at not seeing the fabulous wealth they had expected from the new discoveries. They determined to send to the island of EspaÑola a person authorized to investigate conditions and decide all disputes.

Their choice for the mission was unfortunate; it fell on Francisco Bobadilla, a spiteful, arrogant and tactless man. On arriving in Santo Domingo on August 23, 1500, he immediately began to annul dispositions made by Columbus and sent for the admiral who was in the interior. As soon as Columbus appeared, Bobadilla, far exceeding his authority, caused him to be put in chains and confined in a cell of the fortress of Santo Domingo. He also imprisoned the brothers of Columbus and sent them to Spain together with the Discoverer, all chained like infamous criminals. At the same time he made a report attributing malfeasance, injustice and fraud to all.

The administration of Bobadilla was disastrous. In his efforts to ingratiate himself with Columbus' enemies he heaped favors on Roldan and his followers and gave them franchises and lands. He made the slavery of the Indians more galling than ever, obliging them to labor in the fields and mines. Columbus' property and papers were confiscated and Columbus' friend, the explorer Rodrigo de Bastidas, was imprisoned and his property seized.

The captain of the vessel bearing Columbus treated his distinguished prisoner with all possible deference and offered to take off the chains, but the Discoverer, whose heart was breaking under the indignities heaped upon him and the injustice of which he was the victim, proudly refused. When the vessel arrived in Spain the sovereigns, shocked at Bobadilla's proceedings, commanded the immediate release of Columbus, ordered that his property be restored and overwhelmed him with distinctions, though providing that his dignities as viceroy were to remain temporarily suspended; probably because the calculating spirit of King Ferdinand believed that too much power had been vested in his subject. Bobadilla was removed from office, and Nicolas de Ovando, a member of the religious-military order of Alcantara, was appointed governor in his place.

Ovando arrived in Santo Domingo on April 15, 1502, with a fleet of thirty vessels, the largest which up to that time had arrived in the new world, carrying stores of every kind and over 1500 persons, among them many who later attained distinction in conquests on the mainland. He was courteous to Bobadilla, but took measures to send Roldan and the most turbulent of his companions back to Spain on the return of his fleet, the largest vessel of which was placed at the disposition of Bobadilla.

Just before the sailing of the fleet, on June 30, 1502, Columbus unexpectedly appeared before the city on his fourth voyage, and asked permission to enter the port for protection from a hurricane which he believed was approaching. Ovando, either because he had secret orders, or perhaps because he feared Columbus' presence might cause renewed disturbances, denied the request, and the great man, deeply wounded by the refusal, sought shelter further up the coast.

The pilots of the great fleet derided Columbus' prediction and the ships set sail. They had not reached the easternmost point of the island when a terrific hurricane broke loose. All but two of the vessels were lost, and by a strange coincidence one of these two bore Rodrigo de Bastidas, the friend of Columbus, while the other, the smallest and weakest vessel of the fleet, was the one that carried Columbus' property. Bobadilla, Roldan and other enemies of the admiral, and many other passengers and Indian captives perished and large stores of gold were lost. Columbus' squadron rode out the storm in safety in a cove of the bay of Azua, whereupon he continued his voyage.

On land, too, the hurricane wrought great destruction. The houses of the town of Santo Domingo were demolished and as the right bank of the Ozama was higher and seemed more suitable, Ovando ordered that the town be rebuilt on that side, where it now stands.

Ovando now inaugurated a period of general prosperity. He established peace and order, issued rules for the different branches of the public service, placed honest men in the posts of responsibility and encouraged industry and agriculture. Yet, strange mixture of energy and cruelty, of valor and bigotry that he was, his treatment of the Indians was most oppressive. To each Spanish landholder was assigned a number of Indians under the pretext that they were to be given religious instruction and accustomed to work; but so onerous and unremitting was the labor imposed that they succumbed to disease by thousands, while thousands of others perished by their own hand in an epidemic of suicide which swept through the country, and many fled to almost inaccessible mountain regions.

But two Indian chieftains still reigned in the island, one the Indian queen Anacaona in the district of Jaragua, the other the chief of Higuey. Ovando's severe measures against the natives made him ready to believe the tales of conspiracies brought to him. He therefore sent a troop of 300 infantry under Diego Velazquez, the future conqueror of Cuba, and 70 horsemen, to the territory of Anacaona, where they were received with every mark of kindness. The Spaniards invited the natives to witness a military drill and when the queen, her principal caciques and a great crowd of Indians were assembled, the exercises commenced. The Indians were awed by the spectacle so new and imposing to them, when suddenly the trumpets gave a signal, the infantry opened fire and the cavalry charged on the defenseless spectators. All the Indians who could not escape by flight were massacred without respect to age or sex. Anacaona alone was spared and carried off to Santo Domingo where she was shortly afterwards ignominiously executed, on the pretext that she was not sufficiently sincere in the Catholic religion which she had recently professed! A tenacious persecution of the Indians who would not become slaves was instituted and but few were able to hide in the mountains of the interior.

In 1503 the subjugation of the last remaining independent chieftain, Cotubanama, lord of Higuey, in the extreme eastern part of the island, was undertaken. Near this province a Spaniard wantonly set his hound upon one of the principal natives, and the Indian was torn to pieces, whereupon the chief, indignant at his friend's death, caused a boatload of Spaniards to be killed, thus giving Ovando a welcome excuse for the invasion. Four hundred Spaniards dealt death and desolation throughout the region, pursuing the Indians into the mountains and forests and sparing neither women nor children. When at last they captured and hung an aged Indian woman revered as a prophetess, the terrified aborigines sued for peace and agreed to pay a heavy tribute. A fortress was erected at Higuey, but the conduct of the Spanish garrison was so outrageous that the Indians in desperation again rose, and killed every Spaniard in the district. Ovando then began a war of extermination and the Indians were killed off by thousands, Cotubanama resisted heroically but in vain, and after being beaten in a number of desperate battles he withdrew to the island of Saona, southeast of Santo Domingo. Here he was surprised and captured by the Spaniards, his remaining warriors mercilessly shot and he himself taken to the city of Santo Domingo and hung. With his death the island was thoroughly pacified, though at a bloody cost, and the conquest proper ended.

On August 13, 1504, Columbus once more arrived in Santo Domingo. On his ill-fated fourth voyage he had been shipwrecked in Jamaica and one of his men crossed the ocean in an open boat, to solicit aid of Ovando. The latter, after dallying for months, finally yielded to the murmurings of the colony and sent for the Discoverer. He received Columbus well, but subjected him to humiliation by arbitrarily liberating a mutineer imprisoned by the admiral. Disappointed and sad, the great navigator left the shores of the island he loved and returned to Spain where his death occurred two years later. The golden age of the colony was now at hand. Ovando built up the city of Santo Domingo, constructed forts and other defences, and laid the foundations of most of its public buildings. Fine private residences and great churches and convents were erected. Sugar-cane was introduced in 1506 and gave rich returns, the production of the gold mines continued to increase, and cattle raising brought large profits. The Indians were dying out under the rigorous treatment, and others were imported from the surrounding islands under the pretense of converting them to Christianity; and when these also succumbed, the importation of negroes from Africa was commenced. About 1508 the island began to be called Santo Domingo, but for almost three centuries royal decrees continued to refer to it as Espanola. So flourishing was its state at this time that thirteen of its towns were granted coats of arms and three were declared cities. The colony was and for many years continued to be a starting point for voyages of discovery and conquest in the islands and along the shores of the Caribbean Sea.

After the death of Christopher Columbus his son Diego made fruitless efforts to recover the honors of which his father had been despoiled, but it was not until he married Maria de Toledo, the beautiful niece of the Duke of Alba, that he met with partial success, probably more because of the influence of his wife's family than because of the justice of his claims. In 1509 he was appointed governor of Santo Domingo to succeed Ovando and arrived in the colony with his wife, his uncles, and a brilliant suite.

Diego Columbus inaugurated his administration with a splendor till then unknown in the new world, establishing a kind of vice-regal court. He built the castle of which the ruins are still to be seen near the San Diego gate in the city of Santo Domingo, and which in its glory must have been an imposing structure. Unfortunately many persons transferred to the son the hatred they had borne the father and he found his plans balked. Intending to carry into effect the royal dispositions relative to the release of the Indians from slavery he incurred the hostility of the planters and when he desisted owing to their opposition, he was attacked by the friars. Complaints poured in upon King Ferdinand; the accusation most calculated to arouse the suspicious monarch's fears was that the second admiral, as Diego Columbus was called, harbored the intention of proclaiming himself sovereign of Santo Domingo. Ferdinand accordingly instituted the audiencia or high court of justice of Santo Domingo, which was invested with a comprehensive jurisdiction, being authorized to hear appeals even from decisions of the governor, whose powers were thus materially curtailed.

This circumstance, as well as a new distribution of the Indians, made over the head of the governor, induced Diego Columbus to return to Spain in 1515 in order to defend his interests. During the term of the two governors who succeeded him, various dispositions were made for the protection of the natives whose numbers were rapidly diminishing notwithstanding importations from the other islands and from South America. The only result of these orders was a change of masters; for when Diego Columbus returned as governor in 1520, he found the Indians exploited by the priests and officers of the crown to whom they had been intrusted ostensibly for religious instruction, while the mine-owners and planters now employed negro slaves.

Almost simultaneously with the return of the second admiral began the insurrection of a young Indian cacique known as Enrique. This noble Indian, a relative of Anacaona, had been converted to Christianity and educated by the Spaniards, but was nevertheless enslaved in one of the "repartimientos," or distributions. His wife having been gravely offended by the Spaniard to whom they were assigned, he retired to the almost inaccessible mountains in the center of the island, and many of the remaining natives fled to join him. Efforts to dislodge him were in vain and negotiations only elicited from him the promise to act on the defensive alone, which was equivalent to an indefinite truce. The number of negro slaves had in the meantime increased, and the treatment given them was as harsh as that which had been accorded the aborigines. As a result an insurrection, the first negro uprising in the new world, began near Santo Domingo City on December 27, 1522. Several Spaniards were murdered, but the troops overpowered the mutineers and a number were hung.

Diego Columbus continued in his efforts to promote the welfare of the colony, but became involved in a quarrel with the royal audiencia and found himself obliged in March, 1524, to return to Spain where he died two years later. The new governor, Bishop Sebastian Ramirez de Fuenleal, was appointed president of the royal court, and the offices of governor and president of the court were thenceforth consolidated. Both he and his successor used their best efforts to promote immigration into the colony which was beginning to suffer on account of the draughts of men that left for the mainland. An army was dispatched against the insurgent chief Enrique who still menaced the tranquillity of the colonists from his mountain fastnesses. When it was found impossible to reach him, peaceful methods were employed. Negotiations were opened, and a treaty of peace signed in 1533, on an island in the beautiful lake still known as Lake Enriquillo. By this treaty the Indians, now reduced to not more than 4000 in number, were freed from slavery and assigned lands in Boya, in the mountains to the northeast of Santo Domingo City. From this time forward there is no further mention of the Indians in the island's history; they disappeared completely by dying out and by assimilation.