When Christopher Columbus made landfall in the Americas on Oct. 12, 1492, he came across Indigenous Lucayans surviving on the Bahamian island now called San Salvador. Columbus composed in his journal about “great multitudes of men” who welcomed him that day, traded with him and informed him about other groups who survived on neighboring islands.

Within a couple of years after Columbus’ arrival, the Indigenous individuals of the Americas were annihilated by what anthropologist Eric Wolf called the “Great Dying” — a mix of epidemic illness, warfare and enslavement that caused a quick decrease in the Native population.