TaĆno
Who were the TaĆno people?
What was the TaĆno system of agriculture?
How did the Spanish conquest affect the TaĆno?
What was the TaĆno Rebellion of 1511?
Do the TaĆno still exist?
TaĆno, Arawakan-speaking people who at the time of Christopher Columbusās exploration inhabited what are now Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic), Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. Once the most numerous Indigenous people of the Caribbean, estimates of the TaĆno population at the time of the Spanish conquest in the late 15th century vary from about one million to more than three million. They had long been on the defensive against the Carib people, who had conquered the Lesser Antilles to the east.
Agriculture and settlement pattern
When they were first encountered by Europeans, the TaĆno practiced a high-yielding form of shifting agriculture to grow their staple foods, cassava and yams. They would burn the forest or scrub and then heap the ashes and soil into mounds that could be easily planted, tended, and irrigated. Corn (maize), beans, squash, tobacco, peanuts (groundnuts), and peppers were also grown, and wild plants were gathered. Birds, lizards, and small animals were hunted for food, the only domesticated animals being dogs and, occasionally, parrots used to decoy wild birds within range of hunters. Fish and shellfish were another important food source.
Traditional TaĆno settlements ranged from small family compounds to groups of 3,000 people. Houses were built of logs and poles with thatched roofs. Men wore loincloths and women wore aprons of cotton or palm fibers. Regardless of gender, TaĆno individuals painted themselves on special occasions, and they wore earrings, nose rings, and necklaces, which were sometimes made of gold. The TaĆno also made pottery, baskets, and implements of stone and wood. A favorite form of recreation was a ball game played on rectangular courts. The TaĆno had an elaborate system of religious beliefs and rituals that involved the worship of spirits (zemis) by means of carved representations. They also had a complex social order, with a government of hereditary chiefs and subchiefs called caciques. Below these chiefs were classes of nobles, commoners, and enslaved laborers.
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Spanish conquest
The TaĆno were conquered by Spanish conquistadors beginning in 1493. The conquistadors forced the encomienda system on the TaĆno, who were made to pay tribute and provide labor to the Spanish. Enslavement and starvation in the wake of Spanish demands, coupled with the diseases inadvertently brought to the New World as part of the Columbian Exchange, reduced the TaĆno to a few thousand by 1520 and to near extinction by 1550.
Some resisted Spanish hegemony in the region. Chief among the attempts to throw off Spanish rule was perhaps the TaĆno Rebellion of 1511. Settlement of what is now Puerto Rico (called BoriquĆ©n by the TaĆno and San Juan Bautista by the Spaniards of the time) began in 1508 when Juan Ponce de LeĆ³n founded the first settlement, Caparra. The relationship between the conquistadors and the TaĆno on the island was initially one of cooperation. The Spanish were welcomed by AgĆ¼eybanĆ” I, the head cacique who ruled over a large portion of the island. The Spanish soon began searching the island for gold. Many of the TaĆno in the region, viewing Ponce de LeĆ³n as a head cacique of sorts, helped the Spanish contingent collect gold, a symbol of nobility and power on the island. The Spanish, viewing TaĆno aid as subservience, increased their demands of both tribute and labor. They also sought to convert the Indigenous inhabitants of the island to Christianity. Tensions rose, exacerbated by the death of AgĆ¼eybanĆ” I.
The head cacique was succeeded by his brother (or nephew), known as AgĆ¼eybanĆ” II. Under the latter AgĆ¼eybanĆ”, resistance to the Spanish increased, with the head cacique and his allies eventually declaring war against the conquistadors. In September 1510 AgĆ¼eybanĆ”ās troops killed a Spanish official. Guarionex, cacique of Otuao, attacked the Spanish village of Sotomayor shortly after, burning much of the town and surrounding fields.
The few survivors of Guarionexās attack fled to Caparra, where Ponce de LeĆ³n began gathering troops to put down the revolt. His forces, consisting of both Spanish troops and warriors supplied by allied caciques, engaged AgĆ¼eybanĆ” and his allies in three battles. The two sides clashed a few times over the ensuing months and, during a battle in a region called Yahueca in 1511, 14 canoes of warriors from neighboring islands came to AgĆ¼eybanĆ”ās aid, making the interisland nature of the conflict apparent. Despite the influx of anti-Spanish fighters, the battle ended in a stalemate after one of the Indigenous leaders (possibly AgĆ¼eybanĆ”) was killed.
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The presence of warriors from neighboring islands (called Caribs in some Spanish records, although some scholars doubt the accuracy of this identification) provided justification for the expansion of hostilities against, and the enslavement of, Indigenous peoples in the Caribbean.
Modern TaĆno identity
Those TaĆno individuals who survived mixed with Spaniards, Africans, and neighboring Indigenous groups. Although the TaĆno institutions were wiped out, TaĆno descendants survived into the 21st century. Several genetic studies published in the 2000s and 2010s concluded that TaĆno DNA remained part of modern Caribbean genetic heritage.
In the late 20th century several groups claiming TaĆno descent gained visibility, notably in Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. state of Florida. In 1998 the United Confederation of TaĆno People, which characterizes itself as an āInter-Tribal authority,ā was created as an umbrella organization for the affirmation and restoration of TaĆno culture, language, and religion. Whereas the TaĆno are not officially recognized as a sovereign group by any governments, those who consider themselves TaĆno claim the right to self-determination.