The largest fleet to sail to the…
1502 CE
The largest fleet to sail to the New World—thirty ships carrying around twenty-five hundred colonists—had sailed from Spain on February 13, 1502, under Nicolás de Ovando, who becomes the third Governor and Captain-General of the Indies, Islands and Firm-Land of the Ocean Sea.
Unlike Columbus's earlier voyages, this group of colonists has been deliberately selected to represent an organized cross-section of Spanish society.
When Ovando arrives in Hispaniola in 1502, he finds the once-peaceful natives in revolt.
Ovando and his subordinates ruthlessly suppress this rebellion through a series of bloody campaigns, including the Jaragua Massacre and the Higüey Massacre.