On December 5 or 6 1492 a fateful wind led Christopher Columbus to the island of Haiti that he renamed Española thinking that it looked like Spain. Guacanagaric, the cacique of the Marien in the northern part of the island, warmly welcomed Columbus. He thought the Taino looked coward and could easily be defeated and enslaved: "They...brought us parrots and balls of cotton and spears and many other things... They would make fine servants... With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want.
