Introduction

The Maya created their civilisation in the area that is now present day Guatemala, South Mexico,

Honduras, Belize, and Yucatan. Although, the civilisation lasted for a very long time, it quickly

fell with the coming of the Europeans. The reasons for its demise will be discussed in the final

part of this section. For purposes of analysis, one can divide the period of Maya civilisation into

two main periods, the Classic period which lasted from about 250-900AD and which witnessed

the highpoint of the civilisation and, secondly, the post-Classic Period.

Overcoming the problems of nature

The location of the Mayan city states has caused many contemporary historians to view the

achievements of the Maya with added respect. This increased respect comes from the fact that

the Maya were not only able to establish wonderful cities but were able to do so in spite of

having to build in the most hostile terrain. Indeed, in order to create their cities, the Maya were

faced with problems of rough terrain and infertile soils. These problems meant that the natural

terrain restricted their ability to set up their cities in accessible locations and meant also a severe

limitation on the populations of such cities. The limitations on population would have been a

direct result of the inability of the terrain to provide adequate agricultural areas for food

production. But the Maya were an ingenious people who were able to overcome the problems of

topography. In general, this meant overcoming the problems of infertile and inaccessible soils in

order to set up their cities. To do this, they engaged in large scale projects of drainage in areas

that were formerly swampy or marshland. This proved quite effective as such land, once drained

of excess water, often proved quite fertile and perfect for the cultivation of food crops. Another

related problem facing the establishment of Mayan city states was that of the dense jungle.
In order to support the population of their large cities, it was necessary for the Maya to remove

large forested areas and turn them into useful agricultural lands. This, they were able to achieve

with the added bonus of being able to generate fertilizers from the process which provided

further necessary nutrients for the soils. These fertilizers were generated from the sediments

taken from the reclaimed land and the detritus and ash created from the land clearing process.

Overall, therefore, we can understand how the Maya were able not only to overcome the initial

problems of topography to set up their city states, but how, over time, they were able to engage

in successful agricultural practices that allowed them to generate food surpluses. These food

surpluses were then used for supporting large population centers. A large city state, like Tikal,

for example, was thus able to support a population of upwards of 50,000 citizens.

Political Organisation: Independent City States

Maya civilisation was not a united one, in the sense that it did not all exist in one geographical

location nor did the different locations all respect one homogenous ruling authority. In fact, the

Mayan society consisted of a number of different city states. These city states consisted of many

citizens with a social organization that relied on group associations. This meant that social

groups were created within the society and each different group was allocated rights and

responsibilities. Therefore, by belonging to a particular group the individual in Mayan society

was allowed to enjoy different rights within the society. Additionally, the city states themselves

(unlike those of the Aztec), existed with a large degree of political independence of each other.

As a result of this political independence, a powerful central authority was not created within the

Mayan empire. This meant that there was no one capital for the entire empire. As a direct

consequence of this, therefore, it was not uncommon for adjacent Mayan city states to be

engaged in warfare amongst themselves as each strove for dominance over its neighbor. Mayan
city states like Tikal were not only population centers but served also the function of autonomous

political and religious centers for the citizens who lived there. The Mayan political structure was

based on the establishment of many different political centers consisting of city states. These city

states collectively represented Mayan society, but each possessed its own level of autonomy

represented by the fact that they each spoke their own peculiar Mayan dialect.

Political and Social Organisation

The city states consisted of numerous citizens but these citizens were not all equal. Indeed, one

characteristic of Maya society was the hierarchical nature of its social organization. This meant

that, at different levels in the society, people would be treated according to their status. This

difference in social treatment automatically meant that some citizens enjoyed a better standard of

living with more of the amenities of life than others. It also meant that at the bottom of this

graded social pyramid were the agricultural farmers and foot soldiers of the empire. They were a

necessary and large part of the society, as it was on their backs that the empire flourished. By

virtue of being at the bottom of the social pyramid their training and skills consisted largely of

the social functions that they performed. Hence, they were not literate and concerned themselves

largely with issues of agriculture and the basics of following orders in warfare.

Above the primary agriculturalists and soldiers were the skilled artisans, who functioned within

Mayan society not only to produce functional artifacts and buildings but also laboured at

producing elegantly crafted artworks and cultural symbols that enriched Mayan culture and

everyday life. These skilled craftsmen were a class above the ordinary agricultural workers and

soldiers and their jobs represented the changing responsibilities and skills of the various classes
as one progressed up the Mayan social standing. Indeed, the truism emerged that as one

progressed upwards in the Mayan social hierarchy the opportunity for learning higher level skills

became available. The highly prized skill of literacy, for example, was seen as a marker between

the ordinary citizen and the noble class and, as such, the attainment of literacy represented an

important social division among the classes in Mayan society. A general truism thus emerged,

this being that as one progressed upwards in the social pyramid, one’s literary capacity

improved.

Along with the skilled artisans were the scribes who were also seen as skilled intellectual

workers. Their job was to record the greatness of Maya civilisation in writing. By having access

to the records, they can be considered as early historians within the society. Their wealth of

knowledge on past activities and events provided Mayan rulers with important information

which, no doubt, aided them in their decision making. Perhaps, we may never know just how

important the role of these scribes were as contemporary historians and anthropologists are still

today busy trying to fully understand the Maya script. What is certain, however, is the fact that

the scribes served an important function in the society and their positioning in the Mayan social

hierarchy above the ordinary peasants and soldiers was reflective of this function.

At the top of the Mayan social hierarchy, as expected, were the hereditary lords. Their status and

the stratification in the society were highlighted by the use of items like jewelry which were

worn largely by the nobility. Their positions were assured due to their lineage. As such, there

was an element of rigidity associated with the noble class in Mayan society and so, in general, a

peasant or one not born into the nobility had very little chance of becoming a part of it. The

benefits for those who belonged to the nobility were huge. Indeed, the noble class owned much

of the lands that were attached to the various city states. These lands, therefore, became the
property of individual family groups of nobles within Mayan society. These family groups

decided amongst themselves who would be king and, as was generally the rule in many of these

societies, a patriarchal slant was given importance. As such, male heads of families generally

assumed positions of rule rather than the females.

Apart from the top position of king, other important administrative and ceremonial positions

were also available in the empire and these were farmed out, usually to the sons of the nobility.

These lesser positions of importance were ‘lesser’ only in terms of their being under the rule of

the king. However, within the society, they were all powerful roles as they allowed the holders a

share in the political will of the empire. For example, the sons of nobles would be placed in

charge of smaller satellite towns and communities that adjoined the major Mayan city states.

These were positions of responsibility and rulership and required much respect by the lower

ordered social ranks in the empire. Additionally, the sons of nobles could also become highly

respected officers in the military.

As military leaders, they would not perform functions of ordinary soldiers but rather functions

as the leaders and military advisors who planned battle strategy and who commanded the armies

in the field. Indeed, a reputation could be built by being successful in battle which would also

increase one’s standing within the Mayan nobility. Finally, the nobles who remained in the city

state also performed important administrative tasks. Their tasks included the overseeing of the

massive amounts of commerce that flooded through the empire on a daily basis. These were

positions of much responsibility as they ensured the proper payment of taxes and the smooth

exchange and profitability of trade goods within the empire.

Agriculture
The Maya were an agricultural people who depended, to a large extent, on the productivity of

their fields in order to expand their culture. As Mayan society increased in size so too did the

need to bring more and more land under productive agriculture. To achieve this, they practiced

slash and burn agriculture in which they constantly cleared more of the forested areas for their

own domestic use. By clearing the forest and burning the cut trees, they were able to further

ensure the fertility of the newly cleared lands. Lands that were cleared in this manner were fertile

only for limited periods of time and so the need developed to constantly clear more and more

agricultural land.

To service this ever growing need for additional agricultural lands, the Maya utilized swampy

areas, arid areas and hilly areas. To conquer these areas and convert them to their agricultural

uses, they drained these areas that were under water ensuring that the fertile soils were

effectively heaped up to provide a bedding surface for their crops. They also created ingenious

irrigation canals which were fed by artificially created dams to ensure that the arid areas were

made fertile. Finally, they were able to reshape the unusable mountainous terrain by creating

agricultural terraces which allowed them to cultivate areas on slopes. Not only did the terraces

increase the agricultural land space but it also ensured that the nutrients in the soil would not be

washed away down the slope.

While much emphasis is usually placed on the agricultural ability of the Maya, one also has to

remember that they did, though to a lesser degree, rely also on animals to supplement their diet.

To this end, for example, one notes that the forest deer provided a ready source of protein to their

diet.

Society
The Maya were great builders and the elaborate and grand scale of their cultural and religious

buildings and plazas that have survived, in spite of the ravages of time, demonstrated the

effectiveness of their methods and the importance of religion to their communities. Huge stone

pyramids were built by them. These pyramids facilitated their religious rites and also served as

burial places for their nobility. Their craftsmen also created art works that recorded their history.

These artworks took the form of large brightly colored murals that recorded aspects of their

history which today provide extensive information to researchers.

The building of their huge stone pyramids was central to Mayan society. These buildings were

very labor intensive and so this underscored the need to have a well controlled and disciplined

labour force. To control this labour force and the society in general, the Maya created a social

system that gave more importance to the men in the society than it did to the women. Their

society was therefore patrilineal. This meant that leading each family group would be a male

member or patriarch who was ultimately responsible for the group. In turn, the male leaders

would pass on this responsibility to other males in their family at the time of their deaths. This

system of organization functioned effectively as it allowed for a natural organization of the

society based on extended kinship groups, with the various groups recognizing a hierarchy in

which one family was higher than another and the associated patriarch more significant than

others.

As mentioned earlier, the various Mayan city states all spoke different variations of the Mayan

dialect. Taken collectively, however, the Mayan language was a true one, in the sense that it

fulfilled the basic criteria of being conventionalised; being able to represent both tangible and

intangible objects and concepts and, finally, it was also able to be voiced from the text. This is an

important point to note as many contemporary historians view the attainment of writing as a
marker of a very developed society. As stated earlier, the importance of writing was also a mark

of social distinction within the Mayan society itself. The scribes, who most likely formed a

priestly class in Mayan society, were responsible for recording their achievements and history in

their writing form or hieroglyphics. They recorded these writings on permanent media such as

inscriptions in stone or on a few rare pieces of deerskin and early paper.

Religion

Literacy was viewed as an important skill in Mayan society. The use of literacy in religion meant

that the priests in Mayan society were not only literate but they were also part of the upper

classes of Mayan society. Religion was very important to these city states and, because only the

nobles were fully literate, the leaders of religious rituals were, not surprisingly, drawn from the

ranks of the nobility. Thus, both political and religious leaders were drawn from the noble class.

This close connection between the religious and political influences merging in the nobility was

clearly evident in the position of the King.

The position of King in Mayan society, it was believed, was a divine appointment. Hence, the

king, acting in his political capacity, was also acting as a religious leader, as through him the will

of the Godhead was being expressed. This religious aspect of the king’s position cannot be

overstated enough, for his powers rested on his ability not only to communicate directly with the

gods but, through intercessorship, to be able to communicate with all past Mayan ancestors.

Religion proved to be an important commodity within Mayan social life.

Another important commodity in Mayan social life that was directly tied to the practice of

religion was that of blood. In particular, the Mayan religious life had a high respect for human

blood. As such, the highest forms of religious offerings involved the utilization of human blood
sacrifices. Of course, one realizes that by using human blood in worship it would mean the

destruction of human life. Therefore, the worshiping masses would quickly disappear if the

blood that was extensively used was their own. The Mayan societies, therefore, routinely

engaged in warfare through which they would obtain war captives whose blood came to form the

crucial ingredient of worship that Mayan society relied so heavily upon. This reliance was very

real as the Maya earnestly believed that it was only through the frequent and profuse offering of

human blood that their gods would be appeased.

A direct link emerged between the procurement of war captives and worship. The Maya armies

routinely purified themselves in religious ceremonies which, in turn, were designed to ensure

that they were successful in battle. This would ensure that they were able to bring home many

captives in order to further appease the gods. Not only was the blood of war captives offered to

the gods, indeed, since blood rituals were so important to Mayan society, it was also believed

that the blood of a highly placed member of society was especially precious. Thus the ritual

drawing of small quantities of blood from amongst those of the noble class was also offered to

the gods. Thus, we note that for extremely important ceremonies some blood was drawn from the

king himself and used in veneration of the gods. Of course, not enough blood to incapacitate or

kill the king was usually taken (and so they drew small quantities of blood from their genitals,

lips, tongues or ears), and this differed in this regard from the blood taking that was done from

the war captives.

Their calendar system was also tied to their religion and must also be mentioned. Its use and

implementation was very complex and researchers today still marvel at its accuracy. Indeed, the

telling of time was very important for the Maya and they had developed two distinct dating

systems. These systems served to keep track of their religious life and to track the movement of
the sun and its relationship to the earth. These two calendars coincided every fifty two years and

the Maya saw this time of clash as especially important. They also had the concept of a Genesis

or beginning of civilization.

Decline of Classic Mayan Civilisation

Classic Mayan society existed in the context of autonomous city states each aspiring for

supremacy, and, in the process, each being centers of enormous productivity and activity.

However, for reasons that are largely unknown (and remain to this day largely speculation),

historians have pointed out that this classic period of Mayan civilisation was destroyed around

850 AD. The reasons for this destruction are varied but, generally, many historians believe that

the reason for the failure of Classic Mayan society came about as a result of internal conflict. In

this scenario, historians believed that a crisis in faith led to the people’s questioning of the

divinely ordained nature of the social structure and this questioning resulted in the disintegration

of the social divisions and responsibilities that had characterized Classic Mayan society.

It is believed that the destruction of the important religious centre of Teotihuacan around 750

AD was at the centre of the decline. It is believed that its fall demonstrated to the people that the

King no longer represented the will of the Gods. This was an important development because, as

we discussed in the previous sections, Classic Mayan society depended on the strict observance

of the social hierarchy and the belief in the divine nature of the king. Hence, the fall of the

religious centre could be interpreted as the inability of the king to please the gods. Following on

from this apparent collapse of religious authority, historians have postulated that the collapse of

commercial trade routes was inevitable as people no longer felt obligated to respect the nobility

and produce goods as they did before.

While all this seems easy enough to understand from a religious context, historians have also

pointed out that perhaps the failure of the commercial links were also as a result of the

expansionist aspect of Mayan civilisation. It is believed that the demands of a growing

population meant that more and more food and trade goods were required. This requirement

meant that the society would only survive so long as the flow of goods increased at a faster rate

than the growth in the population. It is believed that at the time of the decline of Classic Maya

civilisation this formula no longer worked and that Mayan cities now had more people than they

could reasonably expect to feed and house properly.

We noted that the noble classes were responsible for the proper housing and feeding of the

people, the failure of this infrastructure, therefore, would have undermined the very basis of their

legitimacy. This would have led to a situation in which the ordinary people would now have

every reason to question the basis of the noble class and the functions that they served in the

society. This would have led also to a breakdown of the social order and open conflict between

the classes. This conflict would have manifested itself at two levels. Firstly, the ruling class

would have been in conflict among themselves to secure a greater part of the tributes and

services of a diminished peasantry while, on the other hand, the peasantry would have begun to

reject the greater demands made on them to produce at a time when resources were diminishing.

Whatever the reason, class conflict would have resulted in a context of lessening resources and,

ultimately, the destruction of Classic Mayan society. By 900AD, therefore, the Classic Period of

the Mayas was over and they now entered the post-classic period.

Post classic period

During this latter period or the Post –Classic era a new Mayan centre was established at Chichen

Itza. It was to be among the last of the truly powerful and influential Mayan City states. Unlike

previous city states, it was not ruled by one king but, rather, a more democratic system

comprising of a governing ruling council. Under their leadership the highly skilled artwork and

cultural artifacts, which have been the hallmark of all Maya cultures, once more emerged in all

its glory. Indeed, not only did the Mayan culture emerge but it was added to, as outside

influences became part of its expression. Historians can today trace the inclusion of cultural

influences in Chichen Itza’s artifacts like those of the Toltec and other Mayan groups such as the

Putan Maya (who had traditionally been peripheral to the Classic Yucatan Maya).But the glory

of Chichen Itza was limited and it went into demographic decline from around 1100AD with

marked population decreases and importance. Indeed, this demographic decline was only a

forerunner to the political decline which followed and which resulted in the total overthrowing of

the governing council in 1221AD. Following this large scale demographic and political decline,

Chichen Itza was relegated to the status of a small peripheral state and never again rose to

prominence in post classic Maya life. Other centres and Mayan groups now emerged during the

post classic period. Of importance among these new emergent groups was the large city centre

of Mayapan which was founded by the Itza Maya. However, Classic Mayan civilisation was

now over and cities like Mayapan depended on a new class relationship, in which forced tribute

from peripheral centers became the norm for production rather than production by free peasants.

Indeed, by basing their economies on forced labor, an irregular and inferior system of tribute was

created that was doomed to failure. Such a weak economic foundation soon crumbled and by

about 1450AD, with no surprise, we note that Mayapan had fallen. The fall of this last

stronghold of Maya power signaled the end of the Mayan experiment in powerful, centralized
cultural and political leadership in the region. From this point onwards and until the arrival and

conquest by the Spanish in 1697, Maya civilisation consisted in large part of small, widely

scattered peripheral centres.

While the Spaniards unceremoniously destroyed much of the Mayan cultural and intellectual

artifacts, enough have remained to show, without a doubt, that these people during their heyday

had developed a sophisticated world view represented by their calendar systems , mathematics

and writing.

The neo-Indian peoples occupied a wide area generally referred to in the literature as the West

Indies or, more properly, the Caribbean. The neo-Indians are believed to have migrated from the

South American continent around the Amazon basin in Guyana and journeyed into the islands.

These islands are subdivided into two main sections: the Greater and the Lesser Antilles. The

Greater Antilles consists of Cuba, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Jamaica. The

Lesser Antilles forms two parallel chains and includes, in its outermost chain, Anguilla, and

Antigua and Barbuda while its inner chain includes those islands running through to Grenada.

The islands of Trinidad and Tobago lie just south of this chain, completing the crescent of

Caribbean islands, and Barbados lie to the east. The islands of the Lesser Antilles are further

categorised into the Leeward Islands, which refers to the northernmost extent of the chain of

islands and comprise the islands from the Virgin Islands to Guadeloupe; while the Windward

group consists of Dominica, Martinique, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, the Grenadines and Grenada.

The peopling of this region began around 5,000BC when the first inhabitants came to the region

from across the sea from areas in South and Central America. These earliest people (who had no
real knowledge of pottery), established small seaside communities. In these villages, basic use of

tools was known which involved the use of implements or tools made from stones and shells.

They also practised subsistence agriculture in which a varied diet of wild berries supplemented

with the benefits from fishing and hunting supplied their nutritional needs. These earliest people

into the region have been categorized by anthropologists as “paleo-Indians” and their civilisation

(noted as the earliest of three which developed in the region before the invasion of the

Europeans) relied heavily on basic implements and tools made from stones and shells.

This first group of people was followed by a second group called the “meso-indians” around 500

B.C. This group also originated from South America. They possessed a more developed society

in terms of the tools and pottery, which they utilized in their day to day activities, and they were

able to control their natural environment more adequately. They were able to move away from

setting up seaside villages and establish villages inland. Their settlement patterns followed a

trend that saw them first settling the island of Trinidad and then heading northwards and up into

the islands of the Greater Antilles. Their main population settlements were, however, located in

Trinidad, Cuba and Espanola (also known as Hispaniola). In general, their numbers were never

large and they only occupied a peripheral demographic niche up until the time of the arrival of

the Spanish at which point they completely disappeared.

The third group of peoples to arrive in the region (and for whom we have documented historical

evidence for), were the neo-Indians. They were the most settled of the three groups and their

civilisation flourished because of the fact that they had benefited from the “Neolithic revolution”.
This “revolution” created the conditions that facilitated the progress of peoples from hunters and

gatherers to higher states of development through the process of settling down, domesticating

animals and propagating crops, not only for subsistence but for trade.

This group was subdivided into two main family groups or types referred to as the Saladoid or

Saladoid-Barrancoid people. This division was made on the basis of the archaeological and

linguistic evidence, which allowed for a division based on the varied styles of their surviving

relics and the language evidence, that has survived to this present day and to which historians

now have access. The terms, though, are based on the types of pottery discovered at the various

sites.

The Saladoid people arrived into the region around 300 B.C. and spoke a language called

Arawakan. They spread throughout the Greater and Lesser Antilles and also into the Bahamas.

Ultimately, they settled principally on the islands of the Greater Antilles. These people were also

referred to as the “Lucayos” in historical sources but this designation refers only to those groups

that settled in the Bahamas. This entire group of Arawakan speakers, with their Saladoid culture,

is most commonly referenced in the literature as Taino (literally translated ‘Taino’ means ‘men

of the good’ and this was the name the native people gave to themselves).

The second subdivision of Saladoid people, called Kalinago, spoke a language that linguists refer

to as Cariban. They were very similar in appearance and lifestyles as the other groups of neo-
Indian peoples and divisions can only be understood in terms of relatively minor cultural

differences. Indeed, the traditional idea that the Cariban speakers were in fact “cannibals” is a

gross falsehood in history. The image of “blood thirsty warriors,” that was often associated with

them, was more one of history myth making than it was of their actual reality.

Many historians are today involved in revisionist historiography on this point and they

emphasise the fact that at the time of the Spanish incursion into the region, this group was

actively involved in its expansionist phase and this may perhaps explain why they have been so

poorly understood within the historical literature. When one looks at it from this perspective, one

realizes that history often takes a snapshot of time and in this particular snapshot, the Cariban

speakers were forever frozen in time with one aspect of their society constantly exaggerated.

Indeed, they have, for far too long, been mistakenly identified as ‘Caribs’ and, even worse, they

have been described as violent and cannibalistic, a description many historians today point out

cannot be justified by the available sources.

Social life and Organisation

Neo-Indian villages were located in areas with easy access to reliable fresh water, and fertile land

areas for the cultivation of their main crop, cassava (manioc). Their villages were also set up to

afford maximum defensive positioning, in light of the previously mentioned issue of military

ascendancy (and its converse), in the region. The villages were constructed around a central
village square in which individual houses with thatched roofs and timber walls were added.

These houses would then accommodate between three and five hundred people per village.

In light of the earlier mentioned slight cultural distinctions between the Taino and Kalinago

groups, some historians have pointed out that at the time of the Spanish invasion there were

some differences in Kalinago village organization. In particular, they note that unlike the Taino

villages (where there was no segregation of the sexes in terms of living arrangements), in the

Kalinago villages such gendered segregation existed. The Kalinago established a communal

house in which they sent their boys, at puberty, to live with the adult males.

It was believed that this separation was necessary for the boys to properly learn the ways of men

and to successfully complete their rites of passage. The Spaniards recorded that the Kalinago

men spoke a different “pidgin” which was probably used for trading or for initiation ceremonies.

Altogether, these variations, while noteworthy, do not take away from the shared world view of

all neo-Indians in the region.

(i) Division of labour

Within the village, the daily chores were undertaken with divisions in the workforce and the

tasks assigned being made on the basis of age and sex. The men and boys were given tasks such

as field clearance, hunting, fishing and defense of the village. The males were also required to
take over the tasks of house construction and canoe making. At the same time, the females were

required to undertake aspects of crop cultivation, spinning and weaving of cotton, making

handicrafts (baskets, hammocks, aprons and utensils) and child rearing. The females were also

responsible for the preparation of food and drinks.

Many historians, interested in the study of gender, have classified these neo-Indian societies as

being patriarchal. This meant that the females in these societies were considered to be in

secondary positions to the males in terms of social organisation. Indeed, even when one

considers the assumed difference in village layout between the Taino and Kalinagos one notes

that in the Kalinago villages the women were still required to visit the male communal houses to

perform caretaking roles. They prepared food and drink for the males and saw to their personal

grooming as well.

(ii) Marriage

Marriage norms in neo-Indian society reflected the gender divisions. Historians today believe

that the neo-Indian marriages were arranged between the parents and the intended groom with

little consultation with the female involved. These arrangements were decided upon when the

girls were close to puberty. Women were often commoditized within these arrangements and

this was further extended as women were often traded and raided. Additionally, in these

societies, polygamy was practised amongst the noble classes. These nobles were able to support

many wives and the number of wives a man had came to represent his standing in the society.
It was, therefore, the norm for the chief or cacique, for example, to have many wives. The

‘ordinary’ male commoner usually had only one wife because his economic circumstance meant

that he could only support one wife. This situation arose as the ability to have a wife rested on

the husband’s ability to pay the price of a bride. This bride price need not have been only in

material goods but could also have been paid through service by the husband to her parents.

Nobles and caciques, however, often paid for their wives through trade goods.

(iii) Concepts of beauty

The neo-Indian people were not only involved with the basics of surviving and reproduction, but

they also spent a lot of time on their daily appearance. To this end, they had their own ideals of

beauty which, not surprisingly, differed from the European understanding of beauty. For

example, they appreciated the practice of flattening the foreheads of newborn babies. They

believed that this practice (and the resultant sloping foreheads it produced), led to an enhanced

physical appearance of the individual. Personal adornments were also extensively used by the

neo-Indians and these consisted of items, such as bracelets made of beads, shells and pieces of

gold. These adornments were worn generally on the arms and legs of the neo-Indian peoples.

Gold rings were also worn in their ears and noses just as is worn today by many people

throughout the world. Hair was also highly regarded in these societies and it was considered

their ‘crowning’ glory. Hence, the transition to baldness, most apparent in men, was considered

with much societal disfavour.

Leisure activities

Neo-Indian peoples pursued recreational past times, one of which involved a ball game in which

both men and women participated. Other games were played separately by men and women.

Sadly, however, not much information has come down to us concerning just how these games

were played.

Culture and Religion

The neo-Indian people had a well developed world view in which a concept of an after-life and a

God existed. Today, historians believe that their concept of God was an expansive one which

accommodated the embodiment of three distinct representations. These consisted of a male

figure associated with cassava and volcanoes, a female fertility god related to the sea and moon

and finally, a dog-like deity whose role was to look after the recently dead. To communicate with

the recently dead and all those in the after life, the priests or caciques used miniature

representations called Zemis which allowed them to transcend the physical world and enter into

the spiritual realm. These Zemis were especially invoked on feast days and at special

ceremonies commemorated by these people.

While it is true to say that females had limited religious roles (because the majority of priests and

healers were men), women were not totally excluded from religious ceremonies. Indeed, the

total exclusion of women from the religious observances and myths of the neo-Indian people is

debatable. Historians have noted the central role of women in, for example, the story of origin of
the Taino people. In this creation story, it was believed that an old woman had appeared to early

Caribbean men and taught them the art of growing their staple foods, such as manioc.

Agriculture and Diet

Neo-Indian agriculture was diverse and, as such, the peoples enjoyed a number of different crops

in their diet. Their main crops were potato, cassava and maize, of which the latter two were their

staples. They also cultivated tobacco, which was a non-food crop and which was cultivated for

recreational as well as for religious purposes. Their crops were grown on small agricultural plots

called conucos. Under the system of conuco, the land was intensively cultivated for three to five

years and then it was left fallow. Other areas would then be turned into conuco plots or old

conucos would be returned to agriculture on a rotational basis. During the fallow period, no

crops would be planted on the conuco as it was allowed to recover naturally to its former

fertility. In this way, the soil husbandry of the neo-Indians was apparent.

The neo-Indian people were not afraid of the sea and, as such, they became very good sailors and

navigators. The sea provided them with additional foodstuffs for their diet. Historians have

found the shell remains of many different types of shellfish, oysters, crabs, scallops and a variety

of fish in the neo-Indian middens (archaeologically excavated neo-Indian village rubbish

dumps). Fishing was more important to them than hunting but they did capture and eat birds and

small animals like the agouti and the iguana. Their preferred method for cooking these animals
was over open pits of hot coals called barbecues, a name and method that has come down to us to

the present day.

Trade and commerce

The neo-Indians, because of their seafaring skills, were able to conduct trade not only within the

various islands of the Caribbean but further afield into South and North America. To facilitate

this trade, they made huge canoes from tree trunks which were, in some cases, as long as 25

metres with a seating capacity of about 50 persons. In these canoes, they transported their wares,

like cotton textile goods and ceramics, which they traded with neighbouring peoples and further

afield. They also possessed well crafted stone tools – knives, scrapers, axes and adzes which

further facilitated the crafting of their important boats and allowed them also to make impressive

wood carvings.

Political

Neo-Indian societies possessed political hierarchies, at the top of which were the village chiefs or

caciques. The caciques fulfilled often important political, religious and judicial functions within

the society. This position was often a gendered one and, as such, the holders of these positions

would be generally male. This was not to say that women never became caciques and indeed

there are documented cases of female caciques emerging in Taino society. In general, however,

politics and war were considered the spheres of males and women were allowed only to ‘aspire’

to be wives of caciques.
Among the wives of the cacique, one wife was appointed to the position of chief wife. Her

positioning was important, as some historians believe that the eldest son of the cacique’s chief

wife inherited the title of ‘cacique’ on his father’s death. If she had no children then the son of

her eldest sister inherited the title. Other historians have disagreed with this belief in chieftaincy

and argued, instead, that usually the practice was for the eldest son of the dead cacique’s eldest

sister to inherit the title. If in turn she had no son, then the dead cacique’s brother or brother’s

son succeeded. Additionally, for Kalinago society, it was further argued, that because of

expansion, caciques were elected for life by the people based on their proven skill and prowess

as military leaders.

Whatever the conclusion, it is clear that the neo-Indians were not just ‘primitive savages’ lacking

culture, but were a well developed civilisation with different cultural characteristics which laid

the foundation for properly articulated social structures.

The decline of the neo-Indian population

The earliest recorded demographic data historians have today about the neo-Indian peoples came

to us through the pens of the Spanish. In particular, we have the accounts of the Dominican

priest, Bartolomé de Las Casas. According to him, on arrival in the region the Spaniards found

the neo-Indian settlements to be well established self-sustaining entities in which people lived to

an advanced age. Population figures at this time are fragmented and the earliest census taken on
Hispaniola in 1496, by the Spaniards, estimated the native population to be about one million.

However, as historian David Watts (1987) notes, this number was taken “subsequent to a

particularly severe population decline in 1494–5”. Perhaps, the total numbers of neo-Indians in

the Caribbean, at the time of the arrival of the Spaniards in 1492, could have been about six

million.

Whatever the numbers, it is clear that these numbers continued to decline as disease and misuse

by the Spaniards decimated the populations. The Spaniards brought with them many diseases to

which the neo-Indians had no immunity. While many apologists have sought to argue that there

was a two-way exchange of biological death between the native peoples and the Spaniards, in

general, it should be noted that even the idea of dangerous strains of syphilis being contracted

from the neo-Indians is a construed one as, in fact, dangerous forms of syphilis existed in Europe

long before contact with the neo-Indians.

Ultimately, therefore, even this form of painful and debilitating death from syphilis was brought

by the Spaniards and inflicted upon the native peoples rather than, as is often suggested, that the

neo-Indians ‘gave’ the Spaniards syphilis. Revelations like these, based on careful scrutiny of the

available evidence, certainly validate the point that the native people’s demise was almost an

automatic consequence of the arrival of the Europeans within the region itself.
Diseases apart, the surviving neo-Indians were killed off by the harsh work regimes that they

were subject to under the encomienda system. This work regime killed them in droves as they

laboured in the fields and mines of the Spanish. Additionally, by being forced to labour for the

Spanish their own conucos were neglected resulting in starvation and death for their villages.

Additionally, the extreme cruelty of the Spaniards resulted in many more native deaths.

The neo-Indian population was also eradicated due to miscegenation (mixing of the races). To

this end, one notes the deliberate Spanish policy of encouraging male Spanish settlers and

soldiers to mate with neo-Indian women (especially the daughters of caciques). The children of

these unions were then separated from their neo-Indian family and brought up solely as

Spaniards. Through this method of social acculturation, the neo-Indian society was further

destroyed. Not surprisingly, in places like Hispaniola, for example, by 1514 about 40 percent of

Spanish men had officially recognised Taino wives.

Therefore, a fatal mixture of disease, overwork, starvation, dislocation, miscegenation, war and

genocide ensured that, in the Caribbean, the neo-Indians were largely exterminated between

1493 and around 1540 while the Cariban-speaking group of Kalinagos survived longer, perhaps

up until about the beginning of the eighteenth century. Indeed, Las Casas estimated that in the

period 1494–1508 over three million neo-Indians died on Hispaniola alone. Ultimately, the

Columbian ‘exchange’ was far less an ‘exchange’ in the true sense of the word than it was a

‘death sentence’ for the native peoples.