Given all the furious debate about Columbus today, I was wondering, was he viewed by a monster in his own time? And were the Carib natives he met truly a warlike, enslaving people?

To add to the other responses, I would like to acknowledge the importance of Isabel of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon, the Catholic Monarchs of Spain. As others have said, Columbus did bring slaves back to what we now call Spain on his first trip, and, to some scholars, it was Isabel’s decision, and the subsequent determinations of other Spanish monarchs, that prevented the Indigenous people from suffering further pain. This takes us to an important matter, which is that we should always distinguish the Crown’s positions and that of each individual conqueror.

The Crown’s objectives were primarily two: to evangelize and get richer. To determine the motives of the people that was coming to America is much harder. Most scholars believe they were searching for gold, glory, titles, and also had religious motives. The order in which these appear depended vastly from each source to another.

Now, before Columbus came to America he signed the Capitulaciones de Santa Fe, a document that granted him massive power. He was named admiral of the Ocean, viceroy, and governor, and also had the right to the tenth part of all the riches to be obtained on his voyage. However, most importantly for us, the Capitulaciones gave Columbus power to govern the land that he was to find, to intervene on civil and criminal disputes and to decide, as a judge, the commercial disputes that could arise. We should remember that, at this time, no one could fathom what Columbus was about to stumble upon.

In America, Columbus, just like the Portuguese on the African Coast, did what he believed he had the power to do, and slaved the Indigenous people. Although the Crown was uncertain at the beginning, it soon began to question the moral treatment of the Indigenous people.

As early as 1499 the Crown realized that Columbus was not a good governor. In May, Francisco Bobadilla was named to investigate the accusations made against Columbus. In addition, he was also named governor by the Catholics Monarchs, which meant Columbus was no longer able to govern. Bobadilla was particularly harsh on Columbus, who was event sent back to Spain in chains, but not so much with the other conquerors, and therefore was replaced by Nicolás de Ovando, and faced himself an investigation. The appointments of Bobadilla and Ovando indicate that Isabel and Ferndinand were particularly worried about the acts of Columbus and his treatment of the Indigenous people. This is further indicated by the Codicil of Queen Isabel, that explicitly says that her and Ferdinand’s primary intention was to convert the Indigenous people to the catholic faith and begs her daughter and husband to do everything they can to avoid the suffering of the people of Indias, and orders that they should be properly treated.

At the same time, the moral debate about the treatment of the Indigenous people was beginning in Spain. This debate, or polémica de los justos títulos, continued for decades, and it’s a clear example of how the Crown was concerned about the morality or justice of the treatment of the Indigenous people. This is another important matter that we always should take into consideration when we talk about the conquest of the Americas: how the conquest unfolded depends greatly on the power we are talking about. Thanks to this debate, and to figures like Bartolomé de las Casas, Francisco de Vitoria (and Juan Ginés de Sepulveda), the position of the Crown regarding the freedom of the ndigenous people was becoming clear, and in 1530 Carlos I of Spain outlawed the slavery of the natives and by 1542 the general freedom of the Indigenous people was declared (although with a few exceptions).

Sources:

Manual de Historia del Derecho Indiano, Antonio Dougnac

Historia de las Instituciones Políticas de Chile e Hispanoamérica, Bernardino Bravo Lira.