Personal Narrative Of Travels To The Equinoctial Regions Of America During The Years 1799-1804 - Volume 3 - By Alexander Von Humboldt And Aime Bonpland.
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They Extend This Remark Even To The Independent Hordes Who
Wander On The East Of The Esmeralda, Between The Sources Of The Rio
Branco And The Essequibo.
It may be conceived that the fury and
despair with which the unhappy Caribs defended themselves against the
Spaniards, when in 1504 a royal decree declared them slaves, may have
contributed to acquire for them a reputation for ferocity.
The first
idea of attacking this nation and depriving it of liberty and of its
natural rights originated with Christopher Columbus, who was not in
all instances so humane as he is represented to have been.
Subsequently the licenciado Rodrigo de Figueroa was appointed by the
court, in 1520, to determine the tribes of South America, who were to
be regarded as of Carib race, or as cannibals; and those who were
Guatiaos,* that is, Indians of peace, and friends of the Castilians.
(* I had some trouble in discovering the origin of this denomination
which has become so important from the fatal decrees of Figueroa. The
Spanish historians often employ the word guatiao to designate a branch
of nations. To become a guatiao of any one seems to have signified, in
the language of Hayti, to conclude a treaty of friendship. In the West
India Islands, as well as in the archipelago of the South Sea, names
were exchanged in token of alliance. Juan de Esquivel (1502) se hice
guatiao del cacique Cotubanama; el qual desde adelante se llamo Juan
de Esquivel, porque era liga de perpetua amistad entre los Indios
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