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He did, however, make a discovery, San Salvador where he first landed on October 12th 1492. Later he found a larger island which he named Hispaniola, now called the Dominican Republic. From this island, he took back to Spain, chile "peppers", tomatoes, pineapple, tobacco and the hammock. Not long after Columbus first visited the islands, he came across the local Indians, the Caribs (Native Indians), named after the Spanish word for cannibal. Most of the Caribs were killed for refusing to convert to the church, by aggression, or by disease brought by the Europeans. In later years as sugar plantations were being built, Africans were brought over as slaves to do the field work. Many of the slaves, as well as some prisoners, escaped into the Blue Mountains of Jamaica (where coffee now comes from), where they joined up with the natives of the island and started a new way of life. They became accustomed to the fruits and plants and animals that the islands had to offer. They were called Maroons.
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