ARTE Distribution

The story of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the Americas is always portrayed the same: the explorer travelling in a caravel, planting the Christian cross one knee on the ground and meeting with a new people. By following Caribbean, European and American researchers as they investigate the remains that were left behind by Indigenous peoples, this archaeological and scientific the documentary sets out to destroy the myths that have persisted to this day. From Puerto Rico to Cuba, from Martinique all the way to French Guiana, this investigation takes us on an adventure to appreciate exceptional landscapes and make incredible discoveries following in the footsteps of the pre-Columbian Indigenous Caribbeans.

When Christopher Columbus landed on an island in the Bahamas in October 1492, he didn't just discover a new world, he also met a whole new people. He called them “Indians” and perceived some of them as “good savages” and others as “ferocious cannibals”. This documentary tells the story of how two different worlds met, and it does so through the eyes of the people of the West Indies. Rock paintings, ritual objects, bones and pottery shards tell a new narrative, quite different from the one that was passed down by European settlers. So, who were the pre-Columbian people of the West Indies? How did they meet the Europeans? And finally, did they really disappear, as is often claimed? To answer these questions, we will be unveiling archaeological sites and presenting new scientific experiments to try and learn more about this fascinating civilization.