This illustration was made in 1493, possibly by Jacob Wolff, a printer based in Basel, Switzerland. It is a depiction of Christopher Columbus’s contact with the Taíno on his first voyage to the Americas. The illustration of Insula Hyspana (Hispaniola Island) forms part of a letter sent by Columbus to Gabriel Sánchez, the royal treasurer for the Catholic monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella. In this document, Columbus describes the Taíno as peaceful, timid, and “always naked,” and he says they do not practice idolatry. Columbus points out that he has protected the Native population from any abuse, but the truth is that he exploited and enslaved the Taíno. Before the arrival of Columbus, the Indigenous population of Hispaniola consisted of several million inhabitants, but two decades later it was less than 30,000.