jan 1, 1513 - The massacre at Caonao

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The Spanish had been using the general strategy of approaching villages by sending a priest and Bartolome de las Casas, and encouraging the natives to hand over food and half of the village to the Spanish. This worked in most villages.

However, in Caonao, the natives gave the Spanish food, but refused to let them enter the largest house in the village. Then, one of the Spanish soldiers went off script and started killing the natives. The other soldiers followed suit, and soon almost the entire village had been massacred.

From this point on, all native resistance was met with violence, and the rest of the conquest was completed through force.

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