THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLE

OF THE AMERICAS

Lesson Topic:The Tainos

IDENTIFY THE GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION OF TAINO

Amerindian Group
Places where they lived
Tainos:
Bahamas, Jamaica, Hispaniola, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Trinidad
Kalinagos:
Trinidad, Grenada, St Vincent, St Kitts & Nevis, Puerto Rico, Hispaniola
Mayas:
Southern Mexico, Belize, Honduras, Guatemala, Yucatan Peninsula
DESCRIBE THE APPEARANCE OF THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLE.

▪ In appearance the Taino were short and muscular and had a brown olive
complexion and straight hair. They wore little clothes but decorated their bodies
with dyes.
▪ Men wore loincloths and women wore aprons of cotton or palm fibers.
▪ Both sexes painted themselves on special occasions.
▪ They wore earrings, nose rings, and necklaces, which were sometimes made of
gold.
▪ The Taino also made pottery, baskets, and implements of stone and wood.
IMAGES OF THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLE
DESCRIBE THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL ORGANIZATION OF THE TAINOS

▪ The indigenous peoples were excellent mariners who traded

beyond the limits of the Caribbean Sea – South and North
America. To undertake their trade, they made huge canoes
from tree trunks, which could be as long as 25 metres, with
the capacity for 50 people. In these, 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 and axes
that further facilitated the construction of their boats.
Types of food eaten by the Tainos

The Tainos hunted and grew enough food for themselves and their families.
They did little storing and trading of food. The Tainos ate a lot of fish and
vegetables. They caught and ate a variety of fishes such as

sea cow, shell fish and turtle. The Taino made a tasty dish called pepper pot
from cassava juice, beans,peanuts, potatoes, meat, maize, herbs and pepper
which they cook in a large clay pot. They made cassava bread or bammy
and ate yams, yellow snake and iguana.
 SOCIAL ORGANIZATION OF THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLE:

▪ Tainos

▪The Arawaks were farmers, but fishing provided them with as much of their food
as farming. They ate a great variety of fish, mainly shellfish, but also grouper,
snappers and barracuda. In Cuba, fish were bred in artificial pools and turtles were
also caught by using the remora, or sucker fish. Nooses, snares and nets were used
for catching birds and part of an Arawak boy’s education was to learn to imitate
the cry of birds and to make snare and nets.
▪They also did some hunting. The Huntia or Coney was their favorite prey. They
also caught iguana, the yellow snake and the manatee. They were subsistence
farmers and used slash and burn method. This means they burnt the land in order
to clear it of weeds and bush, and cut down the trees in order to clear space for
planting. The burning produced a certain amount of ash to be used as fertilizers,
but it also burnt out essential elements in the top soil and reduce its fertility.
Cont’d
In planting, the women worked in rows, each woman carrying a bag of soaked grain around
▪

her neck. She made a hole with her digging stick, threw a few grains of corn into it with her
left hand, covered the hole with her foot and repeated the process until her share of the planting
was finished.
▪They practiced a type of agriculture called Cunoco. This involved heaping the soil in mounds.
In each mound were planted variety of crops in such a way as to enrich and protect one
another, since the plants took different nutrients from the soil. This type of planting let the air
into the soil and provided ground cover. It also reduced the chance of erosion. The farming
practices of the arawaks were also geared towards supporting a large population.
▪They also planted corn, cassava, yams, beans, cotton and tobacco and supplemented their
foodstuff by fishing. They ate a variety of fishes including groupers, snappers and barracudas.
▪The Tainos also engaged in a type of ball game called ‘Batos
Taino Food
 Cont’d
Fruits and Vegetables
They ate a lot of fruits and vegetables including:
Pineapples
Star apples
Naseberries
Guavas
Cashew, Potatoes, and ground-nuts
Cotton and Tobacco were also grown
They did not eat mammee apples because they believed they were food for soul of the dead
Their favourite dish was pepperpot which is stew or soup in with meat, vegetables and pepper.
Taino Agricultural Practices

▪ Agricultural practices- The Tainos primarily practised

subsistence farming. In other words, they produced
enough food to feed their villages and the surplus would
be traded. The Tainos cultivated crops such as maize,
peanut, sweet potato, hot pepper and cassava. They also
hunted small animals such as iguanas, agoutis, birds and
yellow snake.
Taino Labour Division

The duties in a Taino village were assigned based on

one’s age and sex. In this regard, men and boys undertook tasks such as

clearing the fields, hunting, fishing and defence of the village. They

were also responsible for house construction and canoe making.

Females played important roles as well, as they were responsible for

crop cultivation, spinning and weaving of cotton, making handicrafts

(baskets, hammocks, aprons and utensils) and childrearing.

 POLITICAL ORGANIZATION OF THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLE

▪ The cacique (chief) of the Taino society enjoyed a hereditary position. This was
passed from father to son; however, if there were no male heir, the eldest son of
his eldest sister would assume the title. I should point out, however, that this was
quite rare. Nobles, or nitayanos, assisted the cacique in the village; these were
usually older men who were considered wise and mature.
▪ THE CACIQUE WAS ENTRUSTED WITH SEVERAL
RESPONSIBILITIES SUCH AS:
▪ 1. Officiating religious and social festivals. 2. Distributing land and
allocating labour. 3. Heading religious ceremonies. 4. Making the
laws.
 POLITICAL ORGANIZATION OF THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLE

▪Tainos
▪The Cacique was the leader of the Arawak community. He had two roles:
1. In his own village, he was the headman and the power of any other headman.
2. He ruled over the whole province and could give orders that affected people
living in all the villages in that province.
▪His other roles were:
▪He decided whether the people of a certain island would go to war against a
neighbouring island or against another province.
▪He could levy a kind of tax on the people of his province. This might be in the
form of agricultural produce or of weapons.
▪He might demand that a certain number of men be sent from villages to take
part in the rids.
▪He inherited his position. Unlike the Mayans, however, the Arawak recognized
matrilineal descent that is, inheritance through the mother’s family. Moreover,
the Cacique might be a woman.
PRIVILEGES OF THE CACIQUE
▪ He was given part of the harvest for himself and his family
▪ Special cassava cakes were made for him
▪ His house or Bohio was built by the villagers and was larger than that of the others
▪ He and his family wore ornaments of gold and copper alloy called Guanin for gold was a sign of rank
among them
▪ His wives’ skirts were longer than those of the other women, for length of skirt was a sign of high rank
▪ His Canoe was the largest in the villages and the only one to be painted
▪ When he travelled by land, he was carried in a litter, while his son was carried on by servants’
shoulders
▪ At his death, he was burnt in his own hut or buried in a cave or grave
▪ The Arawaks also buried two or more of the favorite wives of the Cacique with him. They were
provided with a calabash of water and a portion of cassava
TAINOS RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATION

▪ Taíno religion was polytheistic, which is the belief in

several gods or di- vinities who are the subject of worship
on an independent basis. Their gods were called zemís,
religious persons identified with an image or idol
worshipped by the community or a particular individual.
▪ They also wore an item known to them as ‘zemis’. They
wore this as it is believed to protect them from evil
Examples of religious customs of the Tainos

1. Skulls and bones of ancestors were kept for protection and luck

2. Communication with the gods was made through priests

3. Amulets/lucky charms were worn for protection from evil spirits

THE CACIQUE WAS ENTRUSTED WITH SEVERAL RESPONSIBILITIES SUCH AS:

▪ 1.Officiating religious and social festivals.

▪ 2. Distributing land and allocating labour.
▪ 3. Heading religious ceremonies.
▪ 4. Making the laws.
QUICK TAINOS FACT
▪ Each village was ruled by a headman, or Mitayano or Touchaus while the
province was ruled by the cacique. For the most part Arawak people, it was the
headman’s power which mattered. His functions were as follows;
▪ 1. He organized the work of the villages.
▪ 2. He decided when land should be prepared, crops planted and harvested and
any surplus stored for distribution in the community.
▪ 3. He was the religious leader in the village.
▪ 4. He was the judge whose word was law and who could sentence people to
death for disobedience.
Economic Activities of the Tainos

Tainos engaged in economic activities such as Harvesting maize and cassava.

This they would often times trade with neighbouring villages.
TAINOS TECHNOLOGY

1. Poisonous bow and arrow

2. Weaving straw baskets