CONQUISTADOR

Kate Raines, Plate 3 Photography

Our conquistadors are a good bit cuter than the real deal Spaniards who landed in Cuba in 1492.  Christopher Columbus first met the Taíno people, who he described as, “the best people in the world…gentle and always laughing.”  Of course, Cuba was colonized by Spain and ruled by a Spanish Governor.  Though slavery was not allowed, the Spaniards enslaved the Taíno people and they, along with other indigenous groups all died within 100 years of colonization. They died in gold mining, on plantations, and from smallpox, measles, and other imported diseases.

Conquistadors raped and/or married indigenous women, thus creating a population of people known as mestizos.