Taino
The TaÃÂÃÂno are the pre-Hispanic Amerindian inhabitants of the Greater Antilles, including Cuba, Hispaniola (modern day Haiti and Dominican Republic), Puerto Rico, Jamaica and the Bahamas. The TaÃÂÃÂno are the seafaring descendants of the Arawakan peoples of South America. Those of the Bahamas were known as Lucayan.TaÃÂÃÂno is also the name of their language, it is a member of the Arawakan linguistic stock.
Many scholars consider the TaÃÂÃÂno to be extinct, wiped out by genocide and introduced disease; however, many people still identify as TaÃÂÃÂno, most notably in Puerto Rico. Recent mtDNA genetic research has shown a great majority of modern-day Puerto Ricans are at least partially descended from the TaÃÂÃÂno regardless of ethno-racial self-identification as white, black or mulatto. In research, sample sets collected from people who claimed to have a maternal ancestor with Native American physiognomic traits showed a higher likelyhood of possessing Native American mtDNAs (70%) than did unbiased sample sets (53%). Averaging between these two figures would suggest that 62% of the entire Puerto Rican population descend at least in part from the TaÃÂÃÂno. This high frequency indicates the TaÃÂÃÂno contribution to the current population is considerable.
At the time of Columbus' arrival in 1492, there were five TaÃÂÃÂno "kingdoms" or territories on Hispaniola, each led by a principal Cacique (chieftan), to whom tribute was paid. The TaÃÂÃÂno also shared the islands with the Carib, another Arawakan people originary to South America.
At the time of the Spanish Conquest, the largest Taino 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 Taino 6 The Revolt of 1511 |
In the typical Taino 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 Taino 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.
Taino society can be divided into 4 main sections:
Taino architecture included cotton hammocks (hamaca), mats of banana leaves, wooden chairs with woven seats, couches, cradles for children.
The Taino practised a mainly agrarian lifestyle but also fished and hunted as well. A hair stlyle often worn was with bangs in front and long in back. They sometimes wore gold jewellery, paint, and/or, shells. Taino men and women sometimes wore short skirts.
The Taino spoke a form of Arawak and used the words: barbecue, canoe, and tabaco which have been incorporated into the English and Spanish languages.
Some Taino practiced polygamy. Many men had 2 or 3 wives, and the caciques would marry as many as 30.
The Taino diet was centered around vegitables, 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.
Taino 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 Taino was cassava/yuca, which they ate as a flat bread similar to a burrito or pizza shell. The Taino also grew maize, squash, beans, peppers, sweet potatoes, yams, peanuts as well as tobacco.
The Taino 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 Taino respected all forms of life and recognized the importance of giving thanks as well as honoring ancestors and spiritual biengs whom they callled Cemi. 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 cerimonies, the Taino 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.
Taino 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 Taino religion.
There is debate as to how many Taino inhabited Hispaniola when Columbus landed in 1492. The Catholic priest and contempory 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 Taino. 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 LeÃÂón.
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 Taino
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 hundered 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
See also
Hatuey, Lucayan, Caguax