Santo Domingo | Page 9

shores of the island he loved and returned to
Spain where his death occurred two years later. The golden age of the
colony was now at hand. Ovando built up the city of Santo Domingo,
constructed forts and other defences, and laid the foundations of most
of its public buildings. Fine private residences and great churches and
convents were erected. Sugar-cane was introduced in 1506 and gave
rich returns, the production of the gold mines continued to increase,

and cattle raising brought large profits. The Indians were dying out
under the rigorous treatment, and others were imported from the
surrounding islands under the pretense of converting them to
Christianity; and when these also succumbed, the importation of
negroes from Africa was commenced. About 1508 the island began to
be called Santo Domingo, but for almost three centuries royal decrees
continued to refer to it as Espanola. So flourishing was its state at this
time that thirteen of its towns were granted coats of arms and three
were declared cities. The colony was and for many years continued to
be a starting point for voyages of discovery and conquest in the islands
and along the shores of the Caribbean Sea.
After the death of Christopher Columbus his son Diego made fruitless
efforts to recover the honors of which his father had been despoiled, but
it was not until he married Maria de Toledo, the beautiful niece of the
Duke of Alba, that he met with partial success, probably more because
of the influence of his wife's family than because of the justice of his
claims. In 1509 he was appointed governor of Santo Domingo to
succeed Ovando and arrived in the colony with his wife, his uncles, and
a brilliant suite.
Diego Columbus inaugurated his administration with a splendor till
then unknown in the new world, establishing a kind of vice-regal court.
He built the castle of which the ruins are still to be seen near the San
Diego gate in the city of Santo Domingo, and which in its glory must
have been an imposing structure. Unfortunately many persons
transferred to the son the hatred they had borne the father and he found
his plans balked. Intending to carry into effect the royal dispositions
relative to the release of the Indians from slavery he incurred the
hostility of the planters and when he desisted owing to their opposition,
he was attacked by the friars. Complaints poured in upon King
Ferdinand; the accusation most calculated to arouse the suspicious
monarch's fears was that the second admiral, as Diego Columbus was
called, harbored the intention of proclaiming himself sovereign of
Santo Domingo. Ferdinand accordingly instituted the audiencia or high
court of justice of Santo Domingo, which was invested with a
comprehensive jurisdiction, being authorized to hear appeals even from

decisions of the governor, whose powers were thus materially curtailed.
This circumstance, as well as a new distribution of the Indians, made
over the head of the governor, induced Diego Columbus to return to
Spain in 1515 in order to defend his interests. During the term of the
two governors who succeeded him, various dispositions were made for
the protection of the natives whose numbers were rapidly diminishing
notwithstanding importations from the other islands and from South
America. The only result of these orders was a change of masters; for
when Diego Columbus returned as governor in 1520, he found the
Indians exploited by the priests and officers of the crown to whom they
had been intrusted ostensibly for religious instruction, while the
mine-owners and planters now employed negro slaves.
Almost simultaneously with the return of the second admiral began the
insurrection of a young Indian cacique known as Enrique. This noble
Indian, a relative of Anacaona, had been converted to Christianity and
educated by the Spaniards, but was nevertheless enslaved in one of the
"repartimientos," or distributions. His wife having been gravely
offended by the Spaniard to whom they were assigned, he retired to the
almost inaccessible mountains in the center of the island, and many of
the remaining natives fled to join him. Efforts to dislodge him were in
vain and negotiations only elicited from him the promise to act on the
defensive alone, which was equivalent to an indefinite truce. The
number of negro slaves had in the meantime increased, and the
treatment given them was as harsh as that which had been accorded the
aborigines. As a result an insurrection, the first negro uprising in the
new world, began near Santo Domingo City on December 27, 1522.
Several Spaniards were murdered, but the troops overpowered the
mutineers and a number were hung.
Diego Columbus continued in his efforts to promote the welfare of the
colony, but became involved in a quarrel with the royal audiencia and
found himself obliged in March,