Hispaniola Taíno population decline Spanish rule

Spanish forced labor and enslavement devastated Taíno communities on Hispaniola. Reports put their population at about 400,000 before it fell to 60,000 by 1508 and 26,334 by 1514. A smallpox outbreak killed as many as one-third of those remaining by May 1519. Estimates of the pre-contact population vary widely, so the decline over the century after Spanish arrival is described as up to 95%.