Marabou_Taino_Print_Columbus

Ilustration from America, Part 4 of Grandes Voyages (Great Travels) by Theodor de Bry, 1594. Courtesy of the John Carter Brown Library at Brown University. On display in “Taíno: Native Heritage and Identity in the Caribbean” at the National Museum of the American Indian in New York.

The print, in black and white, is a reflection of the often-told happy, violence-free version of Columbus’ story. In the background, large masted ships sit in the harbor while on land, nude natives dance or flee in fear. To the left of the image, three men in European dress erect what looks like an uneven Christian cross. In the foreground, two rifle-toting men wearing conquistador helmets and another man wearing a wide brimmed hat with a feather in European dress are greeted by a slew of nude and semi-nude men. The semi-nude men hold and extend in offering cups, statutes, caskets, and jeweled sashes presumably of precious metals. All the objects are styled in a European fashion.

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