Chiefdoms of Hispaniola | |||||||||
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Today part of | Dominican Republic Haiti |
The chiefdoms of Hispaniola ( cacicazgo in Spanish) were the primary political units employed by the Taíno inhabitants of Hispaniola (Taíno: Quisqueya , Babeque, Bohio or Ayiti) in the early historical era. At the time of European contact in 1492, the island was divided into five chiefdoms or cacicazgos, each headed by a cacique or paramount chief. Below him were lesser caciques presiding over villages or districts and nitaínos, an elite class in Taíno society.
The Taíno of Hispaniola were an Arawak people related to the inhabitants of the other islands in the Greater Antilles. At the time of European contact, they were at war with a rival indigenous group, the Island Caribs. In 1508, there were about 60,000 Taínos in the island of Hispaniola; by 1531 infectious disease epidemics and exploitation had resulted in a dramatic decline in population.
The boundaries of each cacicazgo were precise. The first inhabitants of the island used geographic elements as references, such as major rivers, high mountains, notable valleys and plains. This enabled them to define each territory. [1] Each was divided into cacique nitaínos, subdivisions headed by the cacique helpers. The entries below relate the territory of each former cacique to the modern-day departments of Haiti and the provinces of the Dominican Republic.
The cacicazgo of Marién included the entire northwestern part of Hispaniola, bordered to the north by the Atlantic Ocean, the south by the cacicazgo of Jaragua, east by the cacicazgos of Maguá and Maguana, and west by the Windward Passage.
It was ruled by the cacique Guacanagaríx, [2] : 13–15 [3] with its capital located in El Guarico, near the present-day city of Cap-Haïtien. It was divided into 14 nitaínos. This cacicazgo was the first to welcome Christopher Columbus and to convert to Christianity.
The cacicazgo of Marién fought against the cacicazgo Mairena, which was aided by Caonabo of the cacicazgo of Maguana for control of the mythical 'Mother' goddess Iermao. The 'Mother' Iermao was the goddess of the cacicazgo of Marién, which means "body stone".
The cacicazgo of Maguá was located on the northeastern part of Hispaniola, bordered to the north and east by the Atlantic Ocean, the south by the cacicazgos of Maguana and Higüey, and west by the cacicazgos of Marién and Maguana. This chiefdom's territories are all in present-day Dominican Republic.
It was ruled by the cacique Guarionex [2] : 30, 33–35, 39–40 [3] and was centered near the present location of Santo Cerro in La Vega. It was divided into 21 nitaínos. This cacicazgo was one of the richest of the island.
The territory was also inhabited by an ethnically distinct group of natives called the Ciguayo, who were concentrated on the Samaná Peninsula. This group, who spoke the Ciguayo language, was absorbed into the cacicazgo of Maguá. This was noted by chronicler Bartolomé de las Casas, who wrote that in 1502 the language was on the decline and by 1527 extinct.
Maguá means "the Stone". The chiefdom's mother-goddess was Guacara or the 'Stone Mother'.
The cacicazgo of Maguana was located in the center of the island, bounded on the north by the cacicazgos of Marién and Maguá, south by the Caribbean, east by the cacicazgos of Maguá and Higüey, and west by the cacicazgos of Marién and Jaragua. This cacicazgos territories were all located in present-day Dominican Republic.
It was ruled by the cacique Caonabo, husband of Anacaona. [3] Its center was established at Corral de los Indios located in the present day town of Juan de Herrera in San Juan province. It was divided into 21 nitaínos.
This was the principal cacicazgo of the island and was represented as "The Rock". The term Maguana means "the first stone" or "the only stone". The principal mother goddess of the chiefdom was Apito, which means "Mother of Stone". [4]
The cacique Caonabo was the first to resist the Spanish occupation. The fort that Christopher Columbus established on the north coast of the island, La Navidad, was destroyed by Caonabo. Caonabo also attempted to sack Fortaleza de Santo Tomás, but was captured by Spanish forces led by commander Alonso de Ojeda. Instead of being condemned to death the cacique was sent to Spain to be paraded in front of the Royal Court but died on his voyage.
The cacicazgo of Jaragua spanned the entire south-west of the island of Hispaniola. It was bordered on the north by the cacicazgo of Marién, south by the Caribbean Sea, east by the cacicazgo of Maguana, and west by the Jamaica Channel. It was ruled by the cacique Bohechío (cacique) (Beehechio) [2] and was the largest of the cacicazgos. Its center was located in a place called Guava, present-day Léogâne in Haiti. It was divided into 26 nitaínos.
Bohechío was the brother of Anacaona, who was married to the cacique of Maguana; Caonabo. [2] : 35 [3] As such, Jaragua and Maguana had a strong alliance and would partner to ward off and attack rival cacicazgos.
The mother goddess of the cacicazgo was Zuimaco.
The cacicazgo of Higüey spanned the entire southeast of Hispaniola, bordered to the north by the cacicazgo of Maguá and the Bay Samana, south by the Caribbean, east by the Canal de la Mona, and west by the cacicazgo of Maguana. It was ruled by the cacique Cayacoa and was divided into 21 nitaínos. The capital of the cacicazgo was located in present-day Higüey.
Floyd states Cotubanama was the cacique of Higüey, who was captured by Juan de Esquivel and hanged in Santo Domingo. [2] : 56–58
The mother goddess of Higüey was Atabeira, which means "Mother of the original stone".
Centre (French) or Sant is a central department of Haiti, located in the center of the country along the border with the Dominican Republic. As of 2015, its estimated population was 746,236. Its capital is Hinche.
Guacanagarix was one of five Taíno caciques of the Caribbean island henceforth known as Hispaniola at the arrival of the Europeans in 1492. This was contemporaneous with the first of the voyages of Christopher Columbus.
Pedernales is the southernmost province of the Dominican Republic, including the offshore island of Isla Beata. It was split from Barahona in 1957. Of its 2,074.53 km2, 1,374 km2 belongs to the Jaragua National Park. A third of its population is of Haitian origin, the highest ratio within the country.
Higüey, or in full Salvaleón de Higüey, is the capital city of the eastern La Altagracia Province, in the Dominican Republic, and the eighth largest city of that country. The Yuma River flows through the urban areas of Higüey.
Lake Enriquillo is a hypersaline lake in the Dominican Republic located in the southwestern region of the country. Its waters are shared between the provinces of Bahoruco and Independencia, the latter of which borders Haiti. Lake Enriquillo is the largest lake in both the Dominican Republic and Hispaniola, as well as the entire Caribbean. It is also the lowest point for an island country.
At the time of first contact between Europe and the Americas, the Indigenous peoples of the Caribbean included the Taíno of the northern Lesser Antilles, most of the Greater Antilles and the Bahamas, the Kalinago of the Lesser Antilles, the Ciguayo and Macorix of parts of Hispaniola, and the Guanahatabey of western Cuba. The Kalinago have maintained an identity as an Indigenous people, with a reserved territory in Dominica.
Enriquillo, also known as "Enrique" by the Spaniards, was a Taíno cacique who rebelled against the Spaniards between 1519 and 1533. Enriquillo's rebellion is the best known rebellion of the early Caribbean period. He was born on the shores of Lake Jaragua and was part of the royal family of Jaragua. Enriquillo's aunt Anacaona was Queen of Jaragua, and his father Magiocatex was the crown prince. He is considered a hero in the modern day Dominican Republic for his resistance in favor of the indigenous peoples. Dominican friar Bartolomé de las Casas, who documented and rallied against Spanish abuse of the native peoples, wrote sympathetically of Enriquillo.
Jaragua National Park is a Dominican national park located in Pedernales Province, in the extreme southwest of the Dominican Republic. Jaragua has a total area of 1,374 km², the largest such protected area in the Caribbean.
San Juan de la Maguana is a city and municipality in the western region of the Dominican Republic and capital of the San Juan province. It was one of the first cities established on the island; founded in 1503, and was given the name of San Juan de la Maguana by San Juan Bautista and the Taino name of the valley: Maguana. The term Maguana means "the first stone, the unique stone".
Anacaona (1474?–1504), or Golden Flower, was a Taíno cacica, or female cacique (chief), religious expert, poet and composer born in Xaragua. Before the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492, Ayiti or Quisqueya to the Taínos was divided into five kingdoms, i.e., Xaragua, Maguana, Higüey, Maguá, and Marién. Anacaona was born into a family of caciques. She was the sister of Bohechío, the ruler of Xaragua.
Guarionex was a Taíno cacique from Maguá in the island of Hispaniola at the time of the arrival of the Europeans to the Western Hemisphere in 1492. He was the son of cacique Guacanagarix, the great Taíno prophet who had the vision of the coming of the Guamikena.
Bohechío is a town in the San Juan province of the Dominican Republic. It is located northeast of the km 25 of Azua – San Juan road at a distance of 26.5 km and 43 km from San Juan Province, 205 km from Santo Domingo and 92 km of the Province Azua, nestled between mountains at the foot of the Cordillera Central. It has a land area of 428.33 km2.
The cacicazgo of Jaragua, also written as Xaragua, was one of the five chiefdoms in the island of Hispaniola, stretching across the southwest; delimited to the north by the cacicazgo of Marién, to the south by the Caribbean Sea, to the east by the cacicazgo of Maguana, and to the west by the Jamaica Channel. Jaragua emerged as the union of two previous cacicazgos, Zui and Yáquimo.
The Captaincy General of Santo Domingo was the first Capitancy in the New World, established by Spain in 1492 on the island of Hispaniola. The Capitancy, under the jurisdiction of the Real Audiencia of Santo Domingo, was granted administrative powers over the Spanish possessions in the Caribbean and most of its mainland coasts, making Santo Domingo the principal political entity of the early colonial period.
The Jaragua massacre of July 1503, was the killing of indigenous natives from the town of Xaragua on the island of Hispaniola. It was ordered by the Spanish governor of Santo Domingo, Nicolás de Ovando, and carried out by Alonso de Ojeda during a native celebration that was held in the village of Guava near present-day Léogane in the territory of Jaragua of the Cacique Anacaona.
Ciguayo (Siwayo) was the language of the Samaná Peninsula of Hispaniola at the time of the Spanish Conquest. The Ciguayos appear to have predated the agricultural Taíno who inhabited much of the island. The language appears to have been moribund at the time of Spanish contact, and within a century it was extinct.
The Ciguayos were a group of Indigenous people who inhabited the Samaná Peninsula and its adjoining regions in the present-day Dominican Republic. The Ciguayos appear to have predated the agricultural Taíno who inhabited much of the island. Ciguayo was spoken on the northeastern coast of the Magua region from Nagua southward to at least the Yuna River, and throughout all of the Samana Peninsula.
Caonabo was a Taíno cacique (chieftain) of Hispaniola at the time of Christopher Columbus's arrival to the island. He was known for his fighting skills and his ferocity. He was married to Anacaona, who was the sister of another cacique named Bohechío.
Cotubanamá National Park is located on the lower southeastern coast of the Dominican Republic, spanning across the provinces of La Altagracia and La Romana with an area of 791.9 sq. kilometers which includes a range of dense humid and dry subtropical forests, mangroves, beaches, and caves.