Reading Caribe Gris

• Reading the translation of Caribe Gris was a bit of a challenge. It wasn’t that it was especially hard to read, it was that it was hard to understand the main idea. 
• Originally, I had thought that the main idea was even though Columbus was factually and morally incorrect while recounting the events of his voyage in his journal, it still became an influential piece of history that can be examined and learn from today.
• While I still believe this idea to be central to the texts, I believe the main idea now to be that Columbus’s false account of his voyages led to the fruition of new prejudices in society regarding native culture. 

• The reason why I changed my views on the main idea is that I thought to myself that the journal probably was the first account of contact with indigenous people from these islands for many people and many incorrect assumptions about the people and their culture were based on this account. 

• The ideas about the natives that Columbus propagates in his journeys regarding the Taíno Indians surely led to scores of people believing the natives to be far less advanced and civilized than they actually were.