Name: ______Date: ______Sec.: ______
The People v. Columbus, et al.
Instructions: Read the pre-trial overview below, then Mr. V will assign your group’s roles in the activity.
A terrible crime was committed in the years after 1492, when perhaps as many as three million or more Taínos on the island of Hispaniola lost their lives. Who, or what, was responsible? And was this crime genocide?
Some possible suspects in the death of the Taínos are: Christopher Columbus, Columbus’ men, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, the Taínos, and the System of Empire. Each suspect has been rounded up and charged with the crime of killing the Taínos. The court has been asked not only to decide who is responsible, but also to determine whether or not the responsible party or parties committed genocide.
Although the term “genocide” did not come into use until after the Second World War, certainly genocides were committed before that time. Part of your job is to determine whether or not the deaths of the Taínos was in fact due to an act of genocide. The United Nations defines genocide in the following manner:
“Genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group, such as: killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; imposing measure intended to prevent births within the group; forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.” (United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide)
Your Job
Each of the five groups will be working either to defend one of the suspected perpetrators, or to serve as the jury. If you are defending Columbus, his men, Ferdinand and Isabella, the Taínos, or the System of Empire, you must:
1. Read a copy of the charges against you and against your co-defendants.
2. Prepare a written defense against the charges presented in the indictment against you.
3. Prepare a written statement explaining who you think is responsible.
4. Prepare a written statement explaining whether or not you think this crime qualifies as genocide.
5. You may choose to plead guilty if you wish. However, if you plead guilty, you must prepare a written statement explaining why you believe you are guilty, as well as a written statement explaining, who helped you commit this crime (it should be one of the other defendants). You must also explain whether or not you think you committed genocide.