The 250,000 Native Arawaks were completely eradicated from Haiti less than 160 years after the arrival of Christopher Columbus. Many poisoned their children to save them from the Spaniards. Columbus believed there were gold fields in Haiti. He ordered all natives 14 years or older to collect a certain amount of gold every three months, everyone who didn’t collect enough had their hands cut off. There was virtually no gold around; only a little dust in streams. Many natives fled and were consequently hunted down and killed by the Spaniards.
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