THEME 1

Economic Organization of the

Maya, Taino & Kalinago
 MAYAS
ECONOMIC ORGANIZATION
 FARMING
 They practiced surplus farming, slash and burn,
terracing and raised field farming techniques.
 They grew a wider variety of crops to include
starch and vegetables. Maize (corn) was also
their favourite starch and was planted on milpas.
 Among the other list of foods cultivated were
squash, pumpkin, cotton, cassava, papaya and
sweet potatoes. Cocoa beans were their currency.
COCOA TREE
SQUASH
MILPAS
 HUNTING
 The wild forests of the Central American
mainland were the natural habitat of many
animals such as a number of birds, deer,
tapir, and the jaguar. They too hunted the
agouti.
TAPIR
JAGUAR
AGOUTI
 TRADING
 They traded within the mainland. They traded by
land and sea. There was a day set aside for market
day and their established market centers. The
highlands had goods that the lowlands did not have.

 They used the rivers and the long coastline as sea

routes to get from one city state to another. This way
too, they could carry a large volume of goods in the
large canoes that they built instead of a limited
amount on their heads over long distances.
 TRADING (CONTINUED)
 They also traded obsidian and flint. The flint was
in great demand for fire purposes. Other precious
metals and stones were traded to be used for
ornamental or religious purposes.

 Theyalso traded feather with the people of the

Greater Antilles. The merchants and traders were
known as ppolms. They were often used as and
suspected of being spies who carried information
from one city to another.
ANIMAL HUSBANDRY
 They reared a wide variety of animals in order to provide
meat for their families and for sale in the market.
Examples of these are rabbits and the tapir. 
MINING
 This was very important to Mayan society and politics.
There were large deposits of limestone to be found along
the Central American mainland. Using their slave labour
they extracted huge blocks of limestone for the
construction of their cities, temples and pyramids.
 TAINO
ECONOMIC ORGANIZATION
 FARMING
 The Tainos practiced subsistence farming. That is they
did not produce and store a surplus. They produced
enough for the needs of the community. They practiced
slash and burn agriculture. The men did the hard work of
clearing the land. They used wooden axes to chop the
branches from the trees and then set them on fire.
 The women's duty was to do the actual planting. They
planted roots, seeds and vegetables on their small plots
of land or conoucos. They used pointed wooden sticks to
dig holes and drop the corn grains in. corn or maize was
their favorite starch. Then they covered them over with
dirt.
CONOUCO CULTIVATION
 FARMING (CONTINUED)
 The ashes from the burnt tree provided fertilizer. Aided
by the children they watered the crops as necessary. It
was the children's duty to scare away birds from the
newly planted seeds. They grew a wide variety of crops
such as: 
 Fruits: pineapples, guava, nase berry, cashew, sour sop,
papaya and grapefruit (the only citrus known to them
before the coming of the Europeans), Cassava, Sweet
Potato.
 Pepper pot soup was the main dish. They also made
Cassareep (a sticky black sauce made from cassava
root).
 HUNTING
 They hunted conies (utia/hutia) and birds with nets and
noose that they made from fibers and vines. They also
hunted iguanas, agouti and snakes. A bark less dog alcos
assisted in hunting. They also went in search of and
gathered wild plants and the bark of certain trees as
directed by their priests to be used for medicinal
purposes.
 In the hills of Trinidad and Jamaica for example a lot of
wild fruits grew in abundance. These were gleefully
collected and added to the main menu. 
Hutia alcos

Iguana
 FISHING
 They would go fishing in the dugout canoes that they
made. They used nets made of vegetable fibers, bone and
turtle shell hooks and bone tipped harpoons. They had an
ingenious method of attaching the remora or sucking fish
to the canoe by a thin line.
 The fish would then dart after the remora hoping to eat it
but would only succeed in getting it sucked onto the
powerful remora. The fisherman would then pull up the
remora, take off the fish and deposit the remora once
more in the water to wait for another victim.
 FISHING
 Waterfowls were also caught by trickery. The Tainos
would allow a number of calabashes to float on the river.
The waterfowls became used to these harmless objects
and paid them no mind. As soon as he was convinced
that the fowls were relaxed, the Taino would place a
calabash over his head and quietly slip into the water
unnoticed. After a few minutes he would grab a nearby
fowl by the legs, pull it under until it drowned and then
put it in the bag that he carried with him.
 They caught a wide variety of water animals such as:
flying fish, shell fish, crabs and manatee.
Remora/sucker fish Manatee/sea cow

Water fowl Flying fish

 WEAVING
 They wove cotton cloth. Hammocks were also favourite
item. They were used as beds or just to ‘hang out' and
catch the cool breeze. They also did baskets from straw.
These were used as containers for the fishermen's catch.
STRAW BASKETS
HAMMOCK
 MINING
 The indigenous peoples did not place much value on
gold. They used it mainly as ornaments. The method of
collecting gold was therefore very simple. They would
dig a hole at the side of the river bank and let the water
flow through it.
 They would examine the silt that was left behind. Any
gold found was collected and given to those in charge of
making decorative headdress for the caciques, masks for
religious ceremonies or nose rings and bracelets
 TRADING
 Trading took place was among the Tainos themselves.
Different villages would contact each other when there
was a need. Tainos of Jamaica engaged in some amount
of trading with the Mayans of Belize. On the map a
straight line connects Jamaica to Belize. This is the route
that the logwood people followed in the 17th century. 
KALINAGO
ECONOMIC ORGANIZATION
 KALINAGO
 Subsistence farming with conouco similar to that
practiced by Taino women. However they mainly did
fishing and ate a variety of sea foods except salt, pork or
fat as they felt it would make them stupid like the Tainos
.Neither crabs while at sea as they feared evil spirits.
 The Kalinago cultivated crops such as cassava, sweet
potato and yam and ate animals such as manatee, birds,
agouti and fish.
 KALINAGO
 The Kalinago seasoned their food with pepper but did
not use salt. Couii and taumalin were pepper sauces.
Taumalin was made from pepper, lemon juice, and the
green meat of crab. The Kalinago made ouicou , a
cassava beer with strong alcoholic content, and got very
drunk on festivals and holidays.