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“I wished to give a complete relation to your Highnesses, and also where a fort might be built…. However, I do not see it to be necessary, because these people are simple in weapons…. With fifty men I could subjugate them all and make them do everything that is required of them.”

— Christopher Columbus

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Listed with a citation on Wikiquote. Attribution is source-supported, not independently verified.

Live wording check · 2026-10-22

I wished to give a complete relation to your Highnesses, and also where a fort might be built…. However, I do not see it to be necessary, because these people are simple in weapons…. With fifty men I could subjugate them all and make them do everything that is required of them. Citation: 14 October 1492 Listed on https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Christopher_Columbus (CC BY-SA)
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Title
Wikiquote: Christopher Columbus
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Wikiquote (CC BY-SA) · Secondary source
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Columbus, Christopher. (n.d.). Wikiquote: Christopher Columbus. https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Christopher_Columbus

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Provenance: https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Christopher_Columbus