“Unveiling the Truth: Did Columbus Really Encounter Cannibals, or Was It All a Historical Deception?”
According to Live Science, this consequently means Columbus’ descriptions of the terrifying raids may well have been accurate. This has also forced experts in the field to reconsider everything they thought they knew about early settlements in the region.
How the various indigenous groups interacted with each other — and the foreign invaders suddenly appearing on their shores — just got a whole lot more interesting.
Wikimedia CommonsThe Sons of Pindorama (1562) by Gravure de Théodore de Bry, depicting Brazilian cannibalism in 1557 as described by Hans Staden.
The claims so collectively disputed refer to the Caniba — a tribe of marauding cannibal warriors — which Columbus recorded in his diaries. He wrote that they regularly attacked his crew after they arrived in 1492.
Since no physical evidence exists that these tribal warriors were cannibalistic, the explorer’s claims were sidelined as hyperbole by most. The Caniba were, however, a real group of South Americans — better known as the Caribs.
“I’ve spent years trying to prove Columbus wrong when he was right: There were Caribs in the northern Caribbean when he arrived,” said study co-author William Keegan.
The accounts of Columbus described the modern-day Bahamas as being comprised of the Arawak and the Caniba people. He called the former “the best people in the world,” while the latter were merciless killers who ate their enemies.
The term “cannibal” actually has etymological roots in “Caniba,” which the explorer reportedly learned from the gentle Arawak people.
