Columbus' first landfall was an insignificant island in what is now the Bahamas. His second landfall was one of the largest islands in the world, Cuba. Columbus' expedition explored along the north-northeastern coast of Cuba. After apparently rejecting Cuba as a colonization site Columbus sailed east to the island of Hispaniola where he did establish the first Spanish colony in the Americas.Spanish colonies were later established in Cuba but only in 1511 after a lapse of nearly twenty years. The task of subduing the natives of Cuba was assigned to Diego Velázquez de Cuellar, the governor of Hispaniola who had subdued the natives there. In gaining control over the Cuban natives Velázquez was assisted by Bartolomé de Las Casas, a Dominican friar who went first to the native villages to try to convert them and get them to accept the control by the Spanish. Las Casas was appalled at the severe treatment of the natives and later in Spain participated in an extensive debate on the question of the morality of Spanish conquest of the natives of the Americas. Las Casas' charges were the foundation of the Black Legend of the Spanish Conquest.
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