The Arawaks
Without
having to go into prehistoric time, we can safely say that the
first inhabitants of the Antilles were The Arawaks. Just
prior to 1,000 AD they were expelled from the Lesser Antilles
by the Caribs, a people originating, like them, from the lower
Orinoco region. Short, copper colored, having black and straight
hair, the Arawaks, due to their early arrival in the region,
were by the time of Columbus' arrival, peaceful and sedentary.
Living from agriculture, hunting and fishing, they grew a soft
variety of corn and sweet potatoes. They also knew how to make
casava bread using an elaborate process to leach out the poisonous
juice of this root.
They
hunted little mammals or lizards with sticks, and birds with
stones. They had domesticated a breed of dog, which they used
for hunting and occasionally as food. Since the sea providing
them with a great bounty, they had therefore developed much
more efficient ways of fishing and navigating. The proximity
of the island favoring sight navigation they did not embark
in long sea faring expeditions as Polynesians will in the Pacific
Ocean. If they lived in round dwellings, there also existed
rectangular houses, with porches, reserved for dignitaries.
Their art of weaving was highly developed and the cotton hammock
in which they slept was one of the few long lasting contributions
they made to European culture. They made good baskets and agricultural
tools; and sometimes sculpted wooden seats. Their pottery was
extremely refined and of real artistic value; even though they
ignored the potter's wheel, like all pre-Columbian American
Indians.
Their
clothing was limited to a short skirt for women; it cut, color
and way of wrapping indicating their social class and age. Men
and women wore ornaments, usually composed of strips of cotton
tied up above their knees and around their upper arms.
At
their feasts they danced to the sound of flutes and drums. They
played a game, somewhat similar to soccer, except that the raw
rubber ball had to be tossed with the head, shoulder, elbow
or most professionally, by the knee. Their minstrels, called Sambas, sang comical or sad stories, of war and/or peace
times.
The
Arawaks were "animists", which means that they
believed in the inner connection of the two worlds (the visible
and the invisible one) and in the existence and survival of
the soul in the environment (tree, rivers, etc.). They adored
the sun, the moon, the stars and the springs, and the Butuous,
their respected priests and medicine men are, according to Metraux,
the ancestors of present-day Haiti's "docteurs-papier'
or ('Docteur-Feuilles')." The Arawaks believed in eternal
life for the virtuous. In Hispaniola they situated their "heaven"
in a remote part of the island, where the elected would go to
rest and eat the delicious Haitian "apricot." Very
little is known abut their political organization. Substantial
kingdoms existed and their Kings - the Caciques- exerted
absolute power on their subjects.
The
quiet and peaceful Arawaks have totally disappeared from the
surface of the Earth. This was accomplished in a very short
time after the arrival of the Europeans. Aside from the animals
imported by the Europeans (in particular the pigs) which left
free to roam devastated the tuberous crop of the Arawaks, many
were killed in the defensive wars they undertook to preserve
their freedom. Others, after being ruthlessly enslaved and submitted
to a meager diet of cassava and sweet potatoes, died from malnutrition
and overwork in the mines or plantations. Finally, the rest
of them died after contracting European diseases from which
they were not immune. Their disappearance was so swift and the
need for cheap and able labor was so great that 30 years after
Columbus' landing the massive deportation of Africans had started.
From Columbus' journal in 1492 addressing how the Arawaks could be used by the Spanish settlers:
All that I saw were young men, none of them more than thirty years old, very well made, of very handsome bodies and very good faces; the hair was coarse almost as teh hair of a horse's tail and short; the hair they wear over their eyebrows, except for a hank behind that they wear long and never cut. Some of them paint themselves black (and they are the color of the Canary Islanders, neither black or white), and some paint themselves white, and others red and others with what they have. Some paint their faces, others the whole body, others the eyes only, others only the nose. They bear no arms, nor know thereof; for I showed them swords and they grasped them by the blade and cut themselves through ignorance; they have no iron. Their darts are a kind of rod without iron, and some have at the end a fish's tooth and others, other things…. They are generally fairly tall and good looking, well made. I saw some who had marks of wounds on their bodies, and made signs to ask them what it was, and they showed me how people of other islands which are near came there and wished to capture them, and they defended themselves. And I believed and now believe that people do come here from teh mainland to take them as slaves. They ought to be good servants and of good skill, for I see that they repeat very quickly all that is said to them; and I believe that they would easily be made Christians, because it seems to me that they belonged to no religion.
|
