Neo-Taíno nations
Encyclopedia
Neo-Taino nations are defined here as the assorted nations of the Caribbean islands, that together with the Tainos, were described on the arrival of European chroniclers or which arose after this historic record was established.
from the neo-Taino nations or neo-Taíno nations of Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Hispaniola, the Lucayan
of the Bahamas and Jamaica. Linguistically or culturally these differences extended from various cognates or types of canoe: canoa, piragua, cayuco to distinct languages. Languages diverged even over short distances. Previously these groups often had distinctly non-Taíno deities such as the goddess Jagua, strangely enough the god Teju Jagua
is a major demon of indigenous Paraguayan mythology. Still these groups plus the high Taíno are considered Island Arawak, part of a widely diffused assimilating culture, a circumstance witnessed even today by names of places in the New World; for example localities or rivers called Guamá are found in Cuba, Venezuela and Brazil. Guamá
was the name of famous Taíno who fought the Spanish.
Thus, since the neo-Taíno had far more diverse cultural input and a greater societal and ethnic heterogeneity than the true high Taíno (Rouse, 1992) of Boriquen (Puerto Rico) a separate section is presented here. A broader language group is Arawakan languages
. The term Arawak (Aruaco) is said to be derived from an insulting term meaning "eaters of meal" given to them by mainland Caribs. In turn the Arawak legend explains the origin of the Caribs as offspring of a putrid serpent.
The social classes of the neo-Taíno, generalized from Bartolomé de las Casas
, appeared to have been loosely feudal with the following Taíno classes: naboría (common people), nitaíno' (sub-chiefs, or nobles), bohique, (shamans priests/healers), and the cacique (chieftains, or princes). However, the neo-Taíno seem to have been more relaxed in this respect.
. They were ruled by leaders or princes, called Caciques. Cuba was then divided into Guanahatabey, Ciboney-Taíno (here neo-Taíno), and Classical (high) Taíno ISBN 0-8173-5123-X. Cuba was then divided into Guanahatabey, Ciboney-Taíno, and Classical Taíno ISBN 0-8173-5123-X. Then some of Western Cuba was Guanahatabey. http://www.kislakfoundation.org/millennium-exhibit/milanich1.htm and some Siboney (see below). Taíno-like cultures controlled most of Cuba dividing it into the Cacigazgos or principalities Granberry and Vescelius (2004) and other contemporary authors only consider the cazigazgo of Baracoa as classical or high Taíno). Cuban Cacigazgos including Bayaquitiri, Macaca, Bayamo, Camagüey, Jagua, Habana y Haniguanica are treated here as “neo-Taíno” . Hispaniolan (Haití and Quisqueya) principalities at about 1500 included Maguá (Cacique Guarionex); Xaraguá (Behecchio); Maguana (Caonabo); Higüey also called Iguayagua http://members.dandy.net/~orocobix/terms1.htm#anchor31107(Higüayo); Ciguayo (Mayobanex), and unnamed region under Cacique Guanacagarí (Wilson, 1990). These principalities are considered to have various affinities to the contemporary Taíno and neo- Taíno cultures from what is now known as Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic and Haiti, but are generally believed somewhat different ISBN 0-8173-5123-X.
(maiz), peanuts
, tomato
, squash, and beans plus a vast array of tree fruits. Tubers in most frequent use were yuca (Manihot esculenta) http://www.funpecrp.com.br/gmr/year2003/vol2-2/gmr0046_full_text.htm a crop with perhaps 10,000 years of development in the Americas; boniato (the "sweet potato
"--Ipomoea batatas) http://dict.die.net/sweet%20potato/, and malanga (Xanthosoma
sp.) http://www.innvista.com/health/foods/vegetables/malanga.htm.
, Fernández de Oviedo and Américo Vespucio. Father de las Casas writes: "The Indian women of Cuba, as once did women of many places, went naked. Married women wore a small skirt or apron, called an enagua, which did not cover their breasts and rarely reached the knee. These women in the marriage ceremony, took to the marriage chamber all the friends of the husband, and later emerged to the cry Manikato, the cry of victory." (Father Bartolomé de la Casas, circa 1500). Yet there are some who question this in a debate recalling the old controversies surrounding Margaret Mead
.
The legend of the mermaid
is said to arise from the Ciboney
account of seductive, sexually generous Aycayia, the incarnation of beauty and of sin who gave men pleasure but robbed them of will (http://www.cienfuegoscuba.galeon.com/aycayia.htm). She and her six lusty sisters were punished, and Aycayia was condemned to the care of an ancient crone Guanayoa, and sent to an isolated place called Punta Majagua. This exile did not improve the situation because she was constantly "visited" by men. Finally, sent to sea, she was said to have transmuted into a mermaid.
Neo-Taíno music (areíto) survives as echoes in the rich traditions of the popular music of the Caribbean, but is believed to continue to exist in its purest form and associated spirituality among the Waroa of Venezuela (Olsen, 1996)
http://www.fieldmuseum.org/research_collections/anthropology/anthro_sites/paul_martin/martin_web/biostate.html,] that the inhabitants of these islands mined and exported metals such as copper (Martin et al. 1947). The Cuban town of (San Ramón de) Guaninao means the place of copper and is surmised to have been a site of pre-Columbian mining (Zayas, 1914).
Our knowledge of the Cuban indigenous cultures which are often, but less precisely, lumped into a category called Taíno (Caribbean Island Arawak) comes from Spanish conquerors' written accounts, oral traditions and considerable archeological evidence.
. Their language was said to be mutually unintelligible with Taíno, requiring bilingual abilities, but may have been similar to Ciguayo (Wilson, 1990).
and ceremony
(Wilson, 1990; Rouse, 1992).
of the southeast coast of the Florida
peninsula were once considered to be related to the Taino, but most anthropologists now doubt this. The Tequesta had been present in the area for at least 2,000 years at the time of first European contact, and are believed to have built the Miami Stone Circle
http://www.earthmatrix.com/miamicircle/ http://www.search4miamihomes.com/miami/miami_living.htm. Carl O. Sauer
called the Florida Straits "one of the most strongly marked cultural boundaries in the New World", noting that the Straits were also a boundary between agricultural systems, with Florida Indians growing seed crops that originated in Mexico
, while the Lucayans of the Bahamas grew root crops that originated in South America.
It is possible that a few Lucayas reached Florida shortly before the first European contacts in the area, but the northwestern Bahamas had remained uninhabited until approximately 1200, and the long established presence of the existing tribes in Florida would have likely prevented any pioneering settlements by people who had only just reached the neighboring islands. Analysis of ocean currents and weather patterns indicates that people traveling by canoe from the Bahamas to Florida were likely to land in northern Florida rather than closer to the Bahamas. A single 'Antillean axe head' found near Gainesville, Florida
may support some limited contacts. Due to the same ocean currents, direct travel in canoes from southern Florida to the Bahamas was unlikely.
Our knowledge of the Cuban indigenous cultures which are often, but less precisely lumped into a category called Taíno (Caribbean Island Arawak) comes from these invaders’ written language we know as Spanish, oral traditions and considerable archeological evidence. The Spanish found that most Cuban peoples for the part living peacefully in tidy towns and villages grouped into numerous principalities called Cacicazgos or principalities with an almost feudal social structure Bartolomé de las Casas
. They were ruled by leaders or princes, called Caciques. Cuba was then divided into Guanahatabey, Ciboney-Taíno (here neo-Taíno), and Classical (high) Taíno ISBN 0-8173-5123-X. Cuba was then divided into Guanahatabey, Ciboney-Taíno, and Classical Taíno ISBN 0-8173-5123-X. Then some of Western Cuba was Guanahatabey. http://www.kislakfoundation.org/millennium-exhibit/milanich1.htm and some Siboney (see below). Taíno-like cultures controlled most of Cuba dividing it into the Cacicazgos or principalities Granberry and Vescelius (2004) and other contemporary authors only consider the cazigazgo of Baracoa as classical or high Taíno). Cuban Cacicazgos including Bayaquitiri, Macaca, Bayamo, Camagüey, Jagua, Habana y Haniguanica are considered here a neo-Taino. These principalities are considered to have various affinities to the contemporary Taíno and neo- Taíno cultures from what is now known as Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic and Haiti, but are generally believed somewhat different ISBN 0-8173-5123-X.
, this is a misnomer, unlike peasants which in Spanish are called peón
es by definition those who travel on foot, Guajiros often ride their small tough Criollo horse
s, are usually armed with cutlasses (machetes), and lived predominantly in separate scattered housing or small towns. This dwelling spacing apparently derives from circumstances left over from the times of the cimarrón
(La Rosa Corzo, 2003), and the repressions of the count of Valmaceda in the Ten Years' War
and that of Valeriano Weyler
in the 1895–1898 Cuban War of Independence
. The Guajiros usually form the bulk of the fighting force in Cuban wars; thus a better translation would be yeoman
. In modern Cuba, with growing urbanisation, Guajiros are still named rural inhabitants as well as habitants of small towns ("pueblo") in contrast to urban habitants. They preserve cultural attributes as the Guajiro
music, mostly from spanish and african roots, and typical food.
In Puerto Rico, the rural inhabitants are called Jibaros.It should be noted that the term jíbaro, according to the Catholic online encyclopedia, is also the name of a tribal group in South America, it meant "mountain men." Jíbaro means "People of the Forest" in the Taíno language. So the term obviously came with them as they immigrated from South America. However "jíbaro" – as is used in Puerto Rico, is not used the same in Cuba or the Dominican Republic, which were populated with the very same Taíno people.
In Cuba the word jibaro is used to denote something wild or untamed, such as "perros jibaros " or wild dogs.
/Guajiro, also refers to indigenous Arawak nation of the Guajira Peninsula
between Venezuela and Colombia. For a small compendium of myths of this Nation please see:
de Cora, Maria Manuela 1972. Kuai-Mare. Mitos Aborígenes de Venezuela. Monte Avila Editores Caracas.
and rebellion, nations and cultures with diverse amounts of Arawak ethnicity, culture, and/or traditions transmuted and arose. Some of these Nations had mixed, or even predominantly African roots and include
the Cimarrón
of Cuba, the Maroon (people)
of Jamaica and Guyana, and the Seminole
of Florida.
The names of these three distinct cultures are transliterations of the original, apparently Taíno or Siboney root, Cimarrón. The equivalent high Taíno root may well be Jíbaro
, which is a name commonly given to a perhaps related South American Nation the Shuar
who have many Arawak type cultural customs, and which are said by some to have lost its language, and forced to adapt Quechua
as the common language (lengua general). Whether such nations as the Garifuna, and Miskito should be included is left to academic debate.
Introduction
Some scholars consider it important to distinguish the TaínoTaíno people
The Taínos were pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Bahamas, Greater Antilles, and the northern Lesser Antilles. It is thought that the seafaring Taínos are relatives of the Arawak people of South America...
from the neo-Taino nations or neo-Taíno nations of Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Hispaniola, the Lucayan
Lucayan
The Lucayan were the original inhabitants of the Bahamas before the arrival of Europeans. They were a branch of the Taínos who inhabited most of the Caribbean islands at the time. The Lucayans were the first inhabitants of the Americas encountered by Christopher Columbus...
of the Bahamas and Jamaica. Linguistically or culturally these differences extended from various cognates or types of canoe: canoa, piragua, cayuco to distinct languages. Languages diverged even over short distances. Previously these groups often had distinctly non-Taíno deities such as the goddess Jagua, strangely enough the god Teju Jagua
Teju Jagua
Teju Jagua is the first son of Tau and Kerana and one of the seven legendary monsters of Guaraní mythology.Because of the curse placed upon Tau by Arasy for raping Kerana, Tau's descendents were forever cursed to a derformed and monstrous appearance....
is a major demon of indigenous Paraguayan mythology. Still these groups plus the high Taíno are considered Island Arawak, part of a widely diffused assimilating culture, a circumstance witnessed even today by names of places in the New World; for example localities or rivers called Guamá are found in Cuba, Venezuela and Brazil. Guamá
Guamá
Guamá was a Taíno rebel chief who led a rebellion against Spanish rule in Cuba in the 1530s.After the death of Spanish governor Diego de Velázquez there was a series of indigenous uprisings...
was the name of famous Taíno who fought the Spanish.
Thus, since the neo-Taíno had far more diverse cultural input and a greater societal and ethnic heterogeneity than the true high Taíno (Rouse, 1992) of Boriquen (Puerto Rico) a separate section is presented here. A broader language group is Arawakan languages
Arawakan languages
Macro-Arawakan is a proposed language family of South America and the Caribbean based on the Arawakan languages. Sometimes the proposal is called Arawakan, in which case the central family is called Maipurean....
. The term Arawak (Aruaco) is said to be derived from an insulting term meaning "eaters of meal" given to them by mainland Caribs. In turn the Arawak legend explains the origin of the Caribs as offspring of a putrid serpent.
The social classes of the neo-Taíno, generalized from Bartolomé de las Casas
Bartolomé de Las Casas
Bartolomé de las Casas O.P. was a 16th-century Spanish historian, social reformer and Dominican friar. He became the first resident Bishop of Chiapas, and the first officially appointed "Protector of the Indians"...
, appeared to have been loosely feudal with the following Taíno classes: naboría (common people), nitaíno' (sub-chiefs, or nobles), bohique, (shamans priests/healers), and the cacique (chieftains, or princes). However, the neo-Taíno seem to have been more relaxed in this respect.
Administrative and/or national units
The Spanish found that most Cuban peoples for the part living peacefully in tidy towns and villages grouped into numerous principalities called Cacigazgos or principalities with an almost feudal social structure Bartolomé de las CasasBartolomé de Las Casas
Bartolomé de las Casas O.P. was a 16th-century Spanish historian, social reformer and Dominican friar. He became the first resident Bishop of Chiapas, and the first officially appointed "Protector of the Indians"...
. They were ruled by leaders or princes, called Caciques. Cuba was then divided into Guanahatabey, Ciboney-Taíno (here neo-Taíno), and Classical (high) Taíno ISBN 0-8173-5123-X. Cuba was then divided into Guanahatabey, Ciboney-Taíno, and Classical Taíno ISBN 0-8173-5123-X. Then some of Western Cuba was Guanahatabey. http://www.kislakfoundation.org/millennium-exhibit/milanich1.htm and some Siboney (see below). Taíno-like cultures controlled most of Cuba dividing it into the Cacigazgos or principalities Granberry and Vescelius (2004) and other contemporary authors only consider the cazigazgo of Baracoa as classical or high Taíno). Cuban Cacigazgos including Bayaquitiri, Macaca, Bayamo, Camagüey, Jagua, Habana y Haniguanica are treated here as “neo-Taíno” . Hispaniolan (Haití and Quisqueya) principalities at about 1500 included Maguá (Cacique Guarionex); Xaraguá (Behecchio); Maguana (Caonabo); Higüey also called Iguayagua http://members.dandy.net/~orocobix/terms1.htm#anchor31107(Higüayo); Ciguayo (Mayobanex), and unnamed region under Cacique Guanacagarí (Wilson, 1990). These principalities are considered to have various affinities to the contemporary Taíno and neo- Taíno cultures from what is now known as Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic and Haiti, but are generally believed somewhat different ISBN 0-8173-5123-X.
Farming and fishing
The adroit farming and fishing skills of the neo-Taíno nations should not be underestimated; the names of fauna and flora that survive today are testimony of their continued use. Neo-Taíno fishing technologies were most inventive, including arpón (harpoons), and nasa (fishnets) and traps. Neo-Taíno common names of fish are still used today (DeSola, 1932 ; Erdman, 1983; Florida Fish and Wild Life Commission (Division of Marine Fisheries) 2002; Puerto Rico, Commonwealth, 1998). Agriculture included a wide variety of germplasm, including cornMaize
Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...
(maiz), peanuts
Peanuts
Peanuts is a syndicated daily and Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz, which ran from October 2, 1950, to February 13, 2000, continuing in reruns afterward...
, tomato
Tomato
The word "tomato" may refer to the plant or the edible, typically red, fruit which it bears. Originating in South America, the tomato was spread around the world following the Spanish colonization of the Americas, and its many varieties are now widely grown, often in greenhouses in cooler...
, squash, and beans plus a vast array of tree fruits. Tubers in most frequent use were yuca (Manihot esculenta) http://www.funpecrp.com.br/gmr/year2003/vol2-2/gmr0046_full_text.htm a crop with perhaps 10,000 years of development in the Americas; boniato (the "sweet potato
Sweet potato
The sweet potato is a dicotyledonous plant that belongs to the family Convolvulaceae. Its large, starchy, sweet-tasting, tuberous roots are an important root vegetable. The young leaves and shoots are sometimes eaten as greens. Of the approximately 50 genera and more than 1,000 species of...
"--Ipomoea batatas) http://dict.die.net/sweet%20potato/, and malanga (Xanthosoma
Xanthosoma
Xanthosoma is a genus of about 50 species of tropical and sub-tropical arums in the flowering plant family, Araceae, all native to tropical America...
sp.) http://www.innvista.com/health/foods/vegetables/malanga.htm.
Neo-Taíno pharmacopoeia
As with all Arawak (Schultes, Raffault. 1990) and similar cultures there was considerable use of natural pharmacopoeia (Robineau, 1991).Taíno studies
Taíno studies are in a state of both vigorous revival and conflict (Haslip-Viera, 2001). In this conflict deeply embedded cultural mores, senses of nationality and ethnicity struggle with each other. The Syboneistas undertook studies and wrote of neo-Tainos as part and cover for independence struggles against Spain (Fajardo, 1829-circa1862; Gautier Benítez, 1873).Sexual mores
Neo-Taíno sexual freedom is well documented by such as Bartolomé de las CasasBartolomé de Las Casas
Bartolomé de las Casas O.P. was a 16th-century Spanish historian, social reformer and Dominican friar. He became the first resident Bishop of Chiapas, and the first officially appointed "Protector of the Indians"...
, Fernández de Oviedo and Américo Vespucio. Father de las Casas writes: "The Indian women of Cuba, as once did women of many places, went naked. Married women wore a small skirt or apron, called an enagua, which did not cover their breasts and rarely reached the knee. These women in the marriage ceremony, took to the marriage chamber all the friends of the husband, and later emerged to the cry Manikato, the cry of victory." (Father Bartolomé de la Casas, circa 1500). Yet there are some who question this in a debate recalling the old controversies surrounding Margaret Mead
Margaret Mead
Margaret Mead was an American cultural anthropologist, who was frequently a featured writer and speaker in the mass media throughout the 1960s and 1970s....
.
The legend of the mermaid
Mermaid
A mermaid is a mythological aquatic creature with a female human head, arms, and torso and the tail of a fish. A male version of a mermaid is known as a "merman" and in general both males and females are known as "merfolk"...
is said to arise from the Ciboney
Ciboney
The Ciboney were pre-Columbian indigenous inhabitants of the Greater Antilles in the Caribbean Sea. The name Ciboney derives from the indigenous Taíno people which means Cave Dwellers; evidence has shown that a number of the Ciboney people have lived in caves at some time. Over the years, many...
account of seductive, sexually generous Aycayia, the incarnation of beauty and of sin who gave men pleasure but robbed them of will (http://www.cienfuegoscuba.galeon.com/aycayia.htm). She and her six lusty sisters were punished, and Aycayia was condemned to the care of an ancient crone Guanayoa, and sent to an isolated place called Punta Majagua. This exile did not improve the situation because she was constantly "visited" by men. Finally, sent to sea, she was said to have transmuted into a mermaid.
Neo-Taíno and Taíno art
Taíno and related art has been celebrated in several significant exhibitions (Alegria, and Arrom 1998; Bercht, et al. 1997; Bullen http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/anthro/caribarch/bullenbib.htm, Dacal et al.; Kerchache, 1994, http://www.elmuseo.org/tainobeltpr.html, most notably in Paris http://epik.priceminister.com/offer/buy/599933/Kerchache-Art-Taino-Livre.html; Maciques, 2004)/Neo-Taíno music (areíto) survives as echoes in the rich traditions of the popular music of the Caribbean, but is believed to continue to exist in its purest form and associated spirituality among the Waroa of Venezuela (Olsen, 1996)
Metallurgy
The art of the neo-Taínos demonstrates that these nations had metallurgical skills, and it has been postulated by some e.g. Paul Sidney MartinPaul Sidney Martin
Paul Sidney Martin was an American anthropologist and archaeologist. A lifelong associate of the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, Martin studied pre-Columbian cultures of the Southwestern United States...
http://www.fieldmuseum.org/research_collections/anthropology/anthro_sites/paul_martin/martin_web/biostate.html,] that the inhabitants of these islands mined and exported metals such as copper (Martin et al. 1947). The Cuban town of (San Ramón de) Guaninao means the place of copper and is surmised to have been a site of pre-Columbian mining (Zayas, 1914).
Ciboney
Ciboney (also Siboney) is a term preferred in Cuban historic context for the neo-Taino-Siboney nations of the island of Cuba.Our knowledge of the Cuban indigenous cultures which are often, but less precisely, lumped into a category called Taíno (Caribbean Island Arawak) comes from Spanish conquerors' written accounts, oral traditions and considerable archeological evidence.
Ciguayo
A separate ethnic identity that differed in language and customs from the classical or high Taíno who lived on the eastern part of the island of Hispaniola then known as Quisqueya and now the Dominican Republic. Wilson (1990) states that circa 1500 this was the kingdom Cacicazgo of Cacique Guacangarí.Macorix
Another separate ethnic identity from what was Quisqueya and now the Dominican RepublicDominican Republic
The Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of La Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries...
. Their language was said to be mutually unintelligible with Taíno, requiring bilingual abilities, but may have been similar to Ciguayo (Wilson, 1990).
Eyeri/Kaliphuna
Often called Carib, the women, who were often abducted neo-Taínas, spoke Eyeri, a language very close to Taíno (Breton,1665) http://www.centrelink.org/General.html; the men spoke a variant of Carib for tradeTrade
Trade is the transfer of ownership of goods and services from one person or entity to another. Trade is sometimes loosely called commerce or financial transaction or barter. A network that allows trade is called a market. The original form of trade was barter, the direct exchange of goods and...
and ceremony
Ceremony
A ceremony is an event of ritual significance, performed on a special occasion. The word may be of Etruscan origin.-Ceremonial occasions:A ceremony may mark a rite of passage in a human life, marking the significance of, for example:* birth...
(Wilson, 1990; Rouse, 1992).
Florida tribes
The TequestaTequesta
The Tequesta Native American tribe, at the time of first European contact, occupied an area along the southeastern Atlantic coast of Florida...
of the southeast coast of the Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
peninsula were once considered to be related to the Taino, but most anthropologists now doubt this. The Tequesta had been present in the area for at least 2,000 years at the time of first European contact, and are believed to have built the Miami Stone Circle
Miami Circle
The Miami Circle, also known as The Miami River Circle, Brickell Point, or The Miami Circle at Brickell Point Site, is an archaeological site in Downtown Miami, Florida...
http://www.earthmatrix.com/miamicircle/ http://www.search4miamihomes.com/miami/miami_living.htm. Carl O. Sauer
Carl O. Sauer
Carl Ortwin Sauer was an American geographer. Sauer was a professor of geography at the University of California at Berkeley from 1923 until becoming professor emeritus in 1957 and was instrumental in the early development of the geography graduate school at Berkeley. One of his best known works...
called the Florida Straits "one of the most strongly marked cultural boundaries in the New World", noting that the Straits were also a boundary between agricultural systems, with Florida Indians growing seed crops that originated in Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, while the Lucayans of the Bahamas grew root crops that originated in South America.
It is possible that a few Lucayas reached Florida shortly before the first European contacts in the area, but the northwestern Bahamas had remained uninhabited until approximately 1200, and the long established presence of the existing tribes in Florida would have likely prevented any pioneering settlements by people who had only just reached the neighboring islands. Analysis of ocean currents and weather patterns indicates that people traveling by canoe from the Bahamas to Florida were likely to land in northern Florida rather than closer to the Bahamas. A single 'Antillean axe head' found near Gainesville, Florida
Gainesville, Florida
Gainesville is the largest city in, and the county seat of, Alachua County, Florida, United States as well as the principal city of the Gainesville, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area . The preliminary 2010 Census population count for Gainesville is 124,354. Gainesville is home to the sixth...
may support some limited contacts. Due to the same ocean currents, direct travel in canoes from southern Florida to the Bahamas was unlikely.
The term and context of the Ciboney (Siboney)
Ciboney (also Siboney) is a term preferred in Cuban historic context for the neo-Taino-Siboney nations of the island of Cuba.Our knowledge of the Cuban indigenous cultures which are often, but less precisely lumped into a category called Taíno (Caribbean Island Arawak) comes from these invaders’ written language we know as Spanish, oral traditions and considerable archeological evidence. The Spanish found that most Cuban peoples for the part living peacefully in tidy towns and villages grouped into numerous principalities called Cacicazgos or principalities with an almost feudal social structure Bartolomé de las Casas
Bartolomé de Las Casas
Bartolomé de las Casas O.P. was a 16th-century Spanish historian, social reformer and Dominican friar. He became the first resident Bishop of Chiapas, and the first officially appointed "Protector of the Indians"...
. They were ruled by leaders or princes, called Caciques. Cuba was then divided into Guanahatabey, Ciboney-Taíno (here neo-Taíno), and Classical (high) Taíno ISBN 0-8173-5123-X. Cuba was then divided into Guanahatabey, Ciboney-Taíno, and Classical Taíno ISBN 0-8173-5123-X. Then some of Western Cuba was Guanahatabey. http://www.kislakfoundation.org/millennium-exhibit/milanich1.htm and some Siboney (see below). Taíno-like cultures controlled most of Cuba dividing it into the Cacicazgos or principalities Granberry and Vescelius (2004) and other contemporary authors only consider the cazigazgo of Baracoa as classical or high Taíno). Cuban Cacicazgos including Bayaquitiri, Macaca, Bayamo, Camagüey, Jagua, Habana y Haniguanica are considered here a neo-Taino. These principalities are considered to have various affinities to the contemporary Taíno and neo- Taíno cultures from what is now known as Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic and Haiti, but are generally believed somewhat different ISBN 0-8173-5123-X.
Ciguayo
A separate ethnic identity, that differed in language and customs from the classical or high Taíno who lived on the eastern part of the island of Hispaniola then known as Quisqueya and now the Dominican RepublicEyeri/Kaliphuna
Often called Carib, the women, often abducted neo-Taínas, spoke Eyeri a language very close to Taíno. Kaliphuna (Carib) is distinct the most famous phrase in Carib is “!Ana Cariná Rote!” ‘Only we are human!’ (de Cora, 1972)Guajiros and Jibaros
The common name given to the rural inhabitants of Cuba is Guajiros. This word is believed derived from the neo-Taino honorific title Guaoxoerí (your mercy) given to the nitaínos of lesser nobility; other higher ranking salutations were Baharí (your lordship) and Matumberí (your highness) (Zayas, p. 244-245 and 270). Although Guajiro is often translated as peasantPeasant
A peasant is an agricultural worker who generally tend to be poor and homeless-Etymology:The word is derived from 15th century French païsant meaning one from the pays, or countryside, ultimately from the Latin pagus, or outlying administrative district.- Position in society :Peasants typically...
, this is a misnomer, unlike peasants which in Spanish are called peón
Peon
The words peon and peonage are derived from the Spanish peón . It has a range of meanings but its primary usage is to describe laborers with little control over their employment conditions.-English usage:...
es by definition those who travel on foot, Guajiros often ride their small tough Criollo horse
Cuban Criollo (horse)
The Criollo horse of Cuba is a small stout breed used by the Guajiro people....
s, are usually armed with cutlasses (machetes), and lived predominantly in separate scattered housing or small towns. This dwelling spacing apparently derives from circumstances left over from the times of the cimarrón
Cimarron
Cimarron is the title of a novel published by popular historical fiction author Edna Ferber in 1929. The book was adapted into a critically acclaimed film in 1931 through RKO Pictures. In 1960, the story was again adapted for the screen to meager success by MGM...
(La Rosa Corzo, 2003), and the repressions of the count of Valmaceda in the Ten Years' War
Ten Years' War
The Ten Years' War , also known as the Great War and the War of '68, began on October 10, 1868 when sugar mill owner Carlos Manuel de Céspedes and his followers proclaimed Cuba's independence from Spain...
and that of Valeriano Weyler
Valeriano Weyler
Don Valeriano Weyler y Nicolau, 1st Duke of Rubí and 1st Marquis of Tenerife Don Valeriano Weyler y Nicolau, 1st Duke of Rubí and 1st Marquis of Tenerife Don Valeriano Weyler y Nicolau, 1st Duke of Rubí and 1st Marquis of Tenerife (Seed in Ambos Camarines.-Philippines:In 1888, he was sent out as...
in the 1895–1898 Cuban War of Independence
Cuban War of Independence
Cuban War of Independence was the last of three liberation wars that Cuba fought against Spain, the other two being the Ten Years' War and the Little War...
. The Guajiros usually form the bulk of the fighting force in Cuban wars; thus a better translation would be yeoman
Yeoman
Yeoman refers chiefly to a free man owning his own farm, especially from the Elizabethan era to the 17th century. Work requiring a great deal of effort or labor, such as would be done by a yeoman farmer, came to be described as "yeoman's work"...
. In modern Cuba, with growing urbanisation, Guajiros are still named rural inhabitants as well as habitants of small towns ("pueblo") in contrast to urban habitants. They preserve cultural attributes as the Guajiro
Punto guajiro
Punto guajiro or punto cubano – or simply punto – is a sung genre of Cuban music, a poetic art with music. It emerged in the western and central regions of Cuba in the 17th century...
music, mostly from spanish and african roots, and typical food.
In Puerto Rico, the rural inhabitants are called Jibaros.It should be noted that the term jíbaro, according to the Catholic online encyclopedia, is also the name of a tribal group in South America, it meant "mountain men." Jíbaro means "People of the Forest" in the Taíno language. So the term obviously came with them as they immigrated from South America. However "jíbaro" – as is used in Puerto Rico, is not used the same in Cuba or the Dominican Republic, which were populated with the very same Taíno people.
In Cuba the word jibaro is used to denote something wild or untamed, such as "perros jibaros " or wild dogs.
Guajiro nation
The term GuajiraGuajira
Guajira may refer to:* Department of La Guajira, a department of Colombia which includes most of the Guajira Peninsula* La Guajira Desert, a desert which covers most of the Guajira Peninsula...
/Guajiro, also refers to indigenous Arawak nation of the Guajira Peninsula
Guajira Peninsula
Guajira Peninsula , is a peninsula in northern Colombia and northwestern Venezuela in the Caribbean Sea...
between Venezuela and Colombia. For a small compendium of myths of this Nation please see:
de Cora, Maria Manuela 1972. Kuai-Mare. Mitos Aborígenes de Venezuela. Monte Avila Editores Caracas.
Later nations in this general area
The Arawak, Caribe and other Meso American coast and the Amazonian cultures can be considered as part of a tenuous continuum of nations, linked by some shared vocabulary, ethnic links, agricultural practices, reinforced by bride abduction, and continuous exogamy. After the violence of the Spanish Conquest, and subsequent events of African SlaverySlavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
and rebellion, nations and cultures with diverse amounts of Arawak ethnicity, culture, and/or traditions transmuted and arose. Some of these Nations had mixed, or even predominantly African roots and include
the Cimarrón
Cimarron
Cimarron is the title of a novel published by popular historical fiction author Edna Ferber in 1929. The book was adapted into a critically acclaimed film in 1931 through RKO Pictures. In 1960, the story was again adapted for the screen to meager success by MGM...
of Cuba, the Maroon (people)
Maroon (people)
Maroons were runaway slaves in the West Indies, Central America, South America, and North America, who formed independent settlements together...
of Jamaica and Guyana, and the Seminole
Seminole
The Seminole are a Native American people originally of Florida, who now reside primarily in that state and Oklahoma. The Seminole nation emerged in a process of ethnogenesis out of groups of Native Americans, most significantly Creeks from what is now Georgia and Alabama, who settled in Florida in...
of Florida.
The names of these three distinct cultures are transliterations of the original, apparently Taíno or Siboney root, Cimarrón. The equivalent high Taíno root may well be Jíbaro
Jíbaro
Jíbaro is a term from the Taíno words "jiba" and "ro", that means forest people, commonly used in Puerto Rico to refer to mountain-dwelling peasants, but in modern times it has gained a broader cultural meaning.-History:...
, which is a name commonly given to a perhaps related South American Nation the Shuar
Shuar
The Shuar people are an indigenous people of Ecuador and Peru. They are members of the Jivaroan peoples, who are Amazonian tribes living at the headwaters of the Marañón River.-Name:...
who have many Arawak type cultural customs, and which are said by some to have lost its language, and forced to adapt Quechua
Quechua languages
Quechua is a Native South American language family and dialect cluster spoken primarily in the Andes of South America, derived from an original common ancestor language, Proto-Quechua. It is the most widely spoken language family of the indigenous peoples of the Americas, with a total of probably...
as the common language (lengua general). Whether such nations as the Garifuna, and Miskito should be included is left to academic debate.