Taíno
The Taíno are the pre-Hispanic Amerindian inhabitants of the Greater Antilles, which includes Cuba, Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic), Puerto Rico, Jamaica and the Bahamas. The Taíno are the seafaring descendants of the Arawakan peoples of South America. Those of the Bahamas were known as Lucayan. Their language was a member of the Arawakan linguistic family, also found in South America.It is popular belief, that the Taíno culture ceased to exist in the 16th century, wiped out by genocide, introduced disease, and assimilation into the plantation economy that Spain imposed in its Caribbean colonies, with its subsequent importation of African slave workers. It is documents that the Spaniards who first arrived in the Caribbean in 1492 and later in Puerto Rico in 1493 did not bring women. They would come to take Taino women as wives in civil marriages, having many mestizo Taino children in the process. Taino Indians had been noted in Puerto Rico's island census of 1771 and 1778. [1]
At the time of Columbus' arrival in 1492, there were five Taíno "kingdoms" or territories on Hispaniola, each led by a principal Cacique (chieftain), to whom tribute was paid. The Taíno also shared the islands with the Carib, another Arawakan people originary to South America.
At the time of the Spanish Conquest, the largest Taíno population centers are said to have contained around 3,000 people.
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2 Food and Agriculture 3 Technology 4 Religion 5 Columbus and the Taíno 6 The Revolt of 1511 7 Taíno Heritage in Modern Times 8 Related topics 9 References |
In the typical Taíno village (yucayeque) one would find a flat court (batey) in the center which was used for games and various festivals. Houses would surround this court. The Taíno would play a ceremonial ball game played between opposing teams (of 10 to 30 players per team) with a rubber ball; winning this game was thought to bring a good harvest and healthy children.
Taíno society can be divided into 4 main sections:
Taíno architecture included cotton hammocks (hamaca), mats of banana leaves, wooden chairs with woven seats, couches, cradles for children.
The Taíno practised a mainly agrarian lifestyle but also fished and hunted as well. A hair style often worn was with bangs in front and long in back. They sometimes wore gold jewellery, paint, and/or, shells. Taíno men and women sometimes wore short skirts.
The Taíno spoke a form of Arawak and used the words: barbecue, canoe, and tabaco which have been incorporated into the English and Spanish languages.
Some Taíno practiced polygamy. Many men had 2 or 3 wives, and the caciques would marry as many as 30.
The Taíno diet was centered around vegetables, meat and fish. There never were many large wild animals to hunt on the islands, but there were some small animals such as rodents, bats, worms, ducks, turtles, and birds.
Taíno groups in the interior of the islands relied more on agriculture. Their crops were raised in a conuco, a large mound, which was packed with leaves to prevent erosion and then planted with a variety of crops to assure that something would grow, no matter what the weather conditions.
One of the primary crops cultivated by the Taíno was cassava, which they ate as a flat bread similar to a burrito or pizza shell. The Taíno also grew maize, squash, beans, peppers, sweet potatoes, yams, peanuts as well as tobacco.
The Taíno used cotton extensively for fishing nets and ropes. Their dugout canoes could hold 70-80 people. They used bows and arrows, and put various poisons on their arrowheads. They used spears for fishing. For warfare, they employed the use of a wooden war club, which they called a macana, that was about one inch thick and was similar to the cocomaque.
The Taíno respected all forms of life and recognized the importance of giving thanks as well as honoring ancestors and spiritual beings whom they called (Cemi). (meaning) Many stone carvings of Cemi have survived. Some of the stalagmites of the Caves of Dondon were carved into the figures of Cemi. The Cemi are sometimes represented by toads, turtles, snakes, caiman and various distorted and human-like faces.
During certain ceremonies, the Taíno would induce vomiting with a swallowing stick. This was to purge the body of impurities, both a literal physical purging and a symbolic spiritual purging. After the serving of communal bread, first to the Cemi, then to the cacique, and then to the common people; the village epic would be sung and accompanied by maraca and other instruments.
Taíno oral tradition explains that the sun and moon come out of caves. Another story tells that people once lived in caves and only came out at night. Another tells that once there were no women. Men brought woman from an island where there were only women. The origin of the oceans is described in the story of a huge flood which occurred when a father murdered his son (who was about to murder the father), and then put his bones into a gourd or calabash. These bones then turned to fish and the gourd broke and all the water of the world came pouring out.
Some anthropologists argue that some or all of the Petwo Voodoo rites may have their origins in Taíno religion.
There is debate as to how many Taíno inhabited Hispaniola when Columbus landed in 1492. The Catholic priest and contemporary historian Bartolome de Las Casas wrote (1561) in his multivolume History of the Indies:
On Columbus' 2nd voyage he began to require tribute from the Taíno. Each adult over 14 years of age, was expected to deliver a certain quantity of gold. In lieu of that, they were ordered to bring 25lbs of cotton. In lieu of that, there was a service requirement which led towards slave labor.
In 1511, several caciques in Puerto Rico allied with the Caribs and tried to oust the Spaniards. The revolt was pacified by the forces of Governor Juan Ponce de León.
The general scholarly opinion is that Taíno culture, along with their genetic lineage, became extinct in the 16th century, wiped out by genocide and introduced disease; however, many people still identify as Taíno, most notably among Puerto Ricans, both on the island and US mainland, especially in Puerto Rico [1] and in the State of New Jersey. [1]
Recent mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) genetic research suggests that a substantial majority (53%) of modern-day Puerto Ricans, regardless of ethno-racial self-identification as white, black or mulatto, are of Amerindian matrilineal descent. Those who acknowledged Amerindian physiognomic traits among their maternal ancestors had a substantially higher rate (76%) of showing possession of these Amerindian genetic markers. Interpretation of these results would suggest that modern-day Puerto Ricans descend at least in part from the Taíno, and that the Amerindian contribution to the current population is considerable. However, these results are further complicated by the fact that Puerto Rico received foreign Amerindian immigration from Central and South America throughout the various centuries it was a Spanish colony. [1]
Culture and Lifestyle
The general population lived in large circular buildings (bohio), constructed with wooden poles, woven straw, and palm leaves. These houses would often hold 10-15 families. The caciques and his family would live in rectangular buildings (caney) of similar construction, with wooden porches.Food and Agriculture
Technology
Religion
Columbus and the Taíno
It is thought by many historians today that Las Casas's figures for the pre-contact levels of the Arawak population were an exaggeration and that a figure closer to one million is more likely. Estimates range all over, from a few hindered thousand up to 8,000,000. They were not immune to European diseases, notably smallpox, but many of them were worked to death in the mines and fields, put to death in harsh put-downs of revolts or committed suicide to escape their cruel new masters. It is generally agreed that by 1507 their numbers had shrunk to 60,000 and by 1531 to 600 in Hispanola. The Revolt of 1511
Taíno Heritage in Modern Times
Related topics
References