In the breaking day of Friday, October 12, 1492, Cristóbal Colón (Christopher Columbus) encountered the Taíno people. On first meeting them, Colón remarked that they appeared to me to be a race of people very poor in everything. They go as naked as when their mothers bore them, and so do the women, although I did not see more than one young girl. All I saw were youths, none more than thirty years of age. They are very well made, with very handsome bodies, and very good countenances. Their hair is short and coarse, almost like the hairs of a horse’s tail. They wear the hairs brought down to the eyebrows, except a few locks behind, which they wear long and never cut. They paint themselves black, and they are the colour of the Canarians, neither black nor white. Some paint themselves white, others red, and others of what colour they find. Some paint their faces, others the whole body, some only round the eyes, others only on the nose. (1893, 37–38) Commenting on their lack of clothing, weapons, and religion, Colón concludes, “They should be good servants,” promising to bring “six natives” back to Europe so “that they may...