Life of the Tainos Before the Spaniards Arrived

400 Words2 Pages
Living in Bahamas, the Greater Antilles and the Northern Lesser Antilles were a set of pre-Columbian inhabitants known as the Tainos. Over the years the Tainos were often highlighted by historians as peaceful, as they did not possess the hostility the Kalinagos (another set of Amerindians) often displayed. They were described as a “docile set of people” (Kanarick 2001) which was fitting description as the word Taino means “good and noble”. The Taino society was quite organized as a cacique, who is often referred to as chief of the tribe and is put in charge of the tainos. “Cacique was a hereditary title” (R. Greenwood, 2003) as it is passed from father to son. The cacique was more of a ceremonial leader/ruler than a law maker as he dealt with the distribution of land, the ordering of labour on the land and the planting and distributing of the crops. He also served as a medium for dealing with village disputes for example if someone stole property he would allow the injuring party to inflict punishment. The cacique was also a religious leader as he lead all of the religious ceremonies. “The Tainos were peaceful agriculturists” (Doris. Hamilton-Willie,2001) as they cultivated corn, cassava, pumpkins, sweet potatoes and yams. They practiced a highly productive form agriculture and the agricultural skills were shown by the use of crop rotation to ensure that staple foods were available through all seasons. The Tainos were described as a subsistent type of people as they produced only enough for themselves and their families. Taino technology before the Europeans came was quite simple, this was as a result of their docile nature, this meant they mainly depended on stone tools. “Their tools were primitive, made for the most part of stone,
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