The privations suffered by the natives demonstrate…

The privations suffered by the natives demonstrate the unrealistic nature of the encomienda system, which the Spanish authorities never effectively enforce.

The Indian population dies off rapidly from exhaustion, starvation, disease, and other causes.

When the Spanish land, they force an estimated four hundred thousand Tainos (out of a total Taino population of some one million) to work for them; by 1508, the Tainos number only around sixty thousand.

Only a few dozen will still be still alive by 1535.