Christopher Columbus
Since the late 20th century, historians have criticized Columbus for initiating colonization and for abuse of natives. Among reasons for this criticism is the poor treatment of the native Taíno people of Hispaniola, whose population declined rapidly after contact with the Spanish. Columbus required the natives to pay tribute in gold and cotton. Modern estimates for the pre-Columbian population of Hispaniola are around 250,000–300,000. According to the historian Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo y Valdes, by 1548, 56 years after Columbus landed, and 42 years after he died, fewer than 500 Taíno were living on the island. The indigenous population declined rapidly, due primarily to the first pandemic of European endemic diseases, which struck Hispaniola after 1519. The natives had no acquired immunity to these new diseases and suffered high fatalities. There is also documentation that they were overworked.
1712 Huilliche rebellion
The Huilliches of Chiloé had already taken action against their Spanish lords back in 1600. In that year a group helped the Dutch corsair Baltazar de Cordes attack the Spanish settlement of Castro. Unlike in continental Chile, the indigenous population of Chiloé grew from 1700 onwards. By 1712 indigenous peoples made up around 50% of the population of the archipelago. The encomiendas of Chiloé were the largest of Chile and the administration of this form of labor more abusive than on the mainland. Moreover, the encomenderos did not fulfill their obligations; they did not register tribute nor salaries. Encomenderos often did not pay legal salaries or salaries at all and did not observe the "free time" of Indians in the encomienda laws. The encomienda activities in Chiloé included the Indians traveling to the continental coast to log for alerce wood.