The Indigenous People and The Europeans

• Major groups of Taino people

  • Western Taino (Cuba, Jamaica, Bahamas)
  • Classical Taino (Hispaniola, Turks and Caicos, Puerto Rico)
  • Eastern Taino (Virgin Islands, Leeward Islands)
• Other Arawakan groups


  • Igneri (Guadeloupe to St. Vincent)
  • Carinago (Grenada, Tobago)
  • Yao, Shibaya (Trinidad)
• Taino social and political structure

  • Provinces ruled by hereditary chiefs called Caciques
  • Villages ruled by sub-chiefs and headmen called Nitainos
  • Settlements ranged from 150 to 4,000 people
• Bohike


  Taino priests or shamans
• Polytheistic religion


  Taino worshipped gods and spirits called Zemis
• Coyaba


  Peaceful place Taino believed they traveled to after death
• Taino leisure activities


  • Singing, dancing, reciting poems called areytos
  • Playing ball games called batey
  • Smoking and drinking alcoholic drinks like perwari and kassiri
• Animism


  Belief that objects, plants, animals, and natural phenomena have a soul or consciousness
• Taino economic practices


  • Practiced conuco cultivation (raised planting mounds)
  • Grew a wide variety of crops including cassava, maize, sweet potatoes
  • Were export merchants and maintained trade networks between islands
• Taino did not use currency, relied on barter system
• Taino were not nomadic, lived in settled communities
• Classical Taino on Hispaniola had more advanced system of government than Eastern Taino
• The Taino people settled into communities and built them, but their communities were not as advanced and large as the Mayans
• The Taino people were not nomadic, they were well-settled
• The classical Taino people who lived on Hispaniola were more advanced than the eastern Taino people
• Puerto Rico was split into about 20 chiefdoms, and Hispaniola was split into about 45 chiefdoms, showing an advanced system of government among the classical Taino people
• Conuco cultivation practice


  Small plot of land cultivated with cassava, maize, sweet potatoes, grown nuts, and other crops
• Taino people


  • Advanced in mathematics and astronomy, but showed ingenuity in tool-making for hunting, fishing, and warfare
• Words created by the Taino people


  • Maize, potato, cassava, tobacco, hammock, hurricane, barbecue, buccaneer, iguana
• Appearance of the Taino people


  • Short to medium height, slightly built, olive brown complexion, flattened forehead, long straight coarse black hair, painted bodies in various colors
• The Taino people practiced warfare, but portrayed themselves as peaceful externally
• The Kalinago people occupied the Lesser Antilles, from Guadeloupe to Trinidad, and were the last indigenous people to enter the region before the arrival of the Europeans
• Kalinago social and political structure

  • Less hierarchical than the Mayans, governance by general consensus, position of Obutu (leader) not hereditary but based on ability
• Kalinago living settings and establishments

  Extended family households, practiced polygamy, did not have a community square but a communal fireplace
• Kalinago appearance


  • Darker complexion, long straight black hair, short and sturdy built, more decorative than the Taino people
• Maboya


  Evil spirit that Kalinago priests (Boyers) had to placate through rituals and sacrifices
• Kalinago religious beliefs


  • Polytheism, belief in many different gods, both good and evil
• Kalinago economic practices


  • Practiced conuco cultivation like the Taino, hunted and fished, traded on a small scale, were relatively mobile and nomadic, had advanced seafaring and navigation skills
• The Kalinago people were documented as venturing into stormy conditions with their stronger built canoes compared to the Taino
• The Kalinago developed tools and weapons adapted for enhanced hunting and warfare
• Kalinago cuisine


  • Seasoned foods with pepper, developed pepper sauces like kui and tamale, had a strong cassava beer called uiku
• Mayan civilization


  • Had a unique political structure with several city-states, each ruled by a king called the Halach Uinic
  • City-states comprised of a central city, ceremonial area, and surrounding villages ruled by lower-level chiefs called Batabs
  • At its zenith, had over 40 city-states with populations of 5,000 to 50,000 people each
• Halaq unique


  The king or ruler of a Mayan city-state, also referred to as the aha or lord/ruler, and seen as the high priest
• Batabs


  Lower-level chiefs in Mayan city-states, accountable to the halaq unique
• Mayan social structure


  • Halaq unique
  • Priesthood
  • Poms (merchants and traders)
  • Peasants
  • Slaves
• Mayan houses for ordinary people were small and simple, while houses of the nobility were made of sculpted stone
• Mayan religion


  Polytheistic, with over 166 gods, both good and bad
• Some key Mayan gods

  • Hunam ku (chief god)
  • Kinich Ahau (sun god)
  • Chac (rain god)
  • Yum Kaax (maize god)
  • Akin Chil (god of the arts)
• Mayan priests


  Called akin, they oversaw religious rules, ceremonies, sacrifices (including human sacrifices), and organized the calendar
• Mayan creation story


  Believed 13 deities created the earth and human beings