After arriving in the Americas, the Spanish crown proceeded to conquer, colonize, Christianize, and expand their new dominions, starting in the island of Hispaniola, present day Dominican Republic (and Haiti). Santo Domingo to be exact, which became the seat of governing power in "Las Antillas", and the lands that lay beyond the blue sea.
Forged steel anchor from the Galleon Conde de Tolosa, which sank on the coast of Samana in the year 1724
The governing structure in the new world resembled that of the old one. There is a building in particular that became important because it was here where governance and judicial matters were handled by the Royal Audiencia, modeled after the Real Audiencia back in Spain. It was also the first court in the Americas, and today, the building houses the Museo de las Casas Reales (Museum of the Royal Houses).
In this museum, you will find artifacts, paintings, furniture, weapons, documents, and so forth, related to the conquest and colonization periods of the Americas that began in this island.
Each room in the two-story building is dedicated to a theme beginning with information and items related to events that led up to Christopher Columbus’ voyages and discovery of the Caribbean islands. These items include replicas of the ships, maps, navigation tools, and an assortment of curiosities that try to set the scene at the moment when the voyage was about to begin.
There are several rooms dedicated to Taino island natives and the African slaves that were brought later. In this part of the museum, they discuss the nature of the locals at the time of Columbus' arrival.
"The aborigines at the moment of discovery"
This poster provides information on the various ethnic groups (broadly divided into Tainos and Caribes) and their governing structure in the “cacique” matrilineal system of social organization. It also shows various customs and terms that were assimilated by the Europeans and African slaves, including barbecue, caiman, guava, hurricane, iguana, papaya, and so on. Archeological artifacts are also shown in this portion of the exhibit with examples of the type of technology used by the local inhabitants at the time.
Taino owl grinding stone
Stone tools
Taino vessels
Later in the exhibit, there is an entire room dedicated to the harsh treatment that Taino and African slaves suffered under the encomienda system, which had the opposite effect of the problem it was intending to solve.
Bell from 1690 belonging to the Convento de la Merced
The map details a battle in Tortuga island
Stone mills
You will have to excuse my haphazard demonstration and lack of info on some of the pieces. This is a huge museum with an incredible array of historical artifacts and documents. I simply didn't have time to properly do the exhibit justice. This post detailed only a small portion of the wide array of information available there, but I hope it gave you a good a sense of how it's put together.
Thank you for visiting.
I believe this is a painting of Christopher Columbus
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