Precolumbian Civilisations (part 1)
The
recorded history of the Caribbean islands begins with the arrival of Christopher
Columbus’ fleet in 1492. Our knowledge of the native peoples
who inhabited the islands before and at the time of his arrival is largely
derived from the accounts of contemporary Spanish writers and from archaeological
examinations as there is no evidence of indigenous written records.
The Amerindians encountered by Columbus in the Greater
Antilles had no overall tribal name but organized themselves
in a series of villages or local chief-doms, each of which had its own
tribal name. The name now used, Arawak,
was not in use then. The term Arawak was used by the Indians of the Guianas,
a group of whom had spread into Trinidad,
but their territory was not explored until nearly another century later.
The use of the generic term, Arawak, to describe the Indians Columbus
encountered, arose because of linguistic similarities with the Arawaks of the mainland. It is therefore surmised that migration took place many
centuries before Columbus’ arrival, but the two groups were not in contact
at that time. The time of the latest migration from the mainland, and
consequently the existence of the island Arawaks, is in dispute, with
some academics tracing it to about the time of Christ (the arrival of
the Saladoids) and others to AD 1000 (the Ostionoids).
The inhabitants of the Bahamas were generally referred to as Lucayans,
and those of the Greater Antilles as Tainos, but there were many sub-groupings.
The inhabitants of the Lesser Antilles were, however, referred to as Carib
and were described to Columbus as an aggressive tribe which sacrificed and sometimes ate the prisoners
they captured in battle. It was from them that the Caribbean gets its
name and from which the word cannibal is derived.
The earliest known inhabitants of the region, the Siboneys, migrated from Florida (some say Mexico) and spread throughout
the Bahamas and the major islands. Most archaeological evidence of their
settlements has been found near the shore, along bays or streams, where
they lived in small groups. The largest discovered settlement has been
one of 100 inhabitants in Cuba.
They were hunters and gatherers, living on fish and other seafood, small
rodents, iguanas, snakes and birds. They gathered roots and wild fruits,
such as guava, guanabana and mamey, but did not cultivate plants. They
worked with primitive tools made out of stone, shell, bone or wood, for
hammering, chipping or scraping, but had no knowledge of pottery. The
Siboneys were eventually absorbed by the advance of the Arawaks migrating from the South, who had made more technological advances in agriculture,
arts and crafts.
The people now known as Arawaks migrated from the Guianas to Trinidad and on through the island arc to Cuba. Their population expanded because
of the natural fertility of the islands and the abundance of fruit and
seafood, helped by their agricultural skills in cultivating and improving
wild plants and their excellent boatbuilding and fishing techniques. They
were healthy, tall, good looking and lived to a ripe old age. It is estimated
that up to 8 million may have lived on the island of Hispaniola alone,
but there was always plenty of food for all.
Their society was essentially communal and organized around families.
The smaller islands were particularly egalitarian, but in the larger ones,
where village communities of extended families numbered up to 500 people,
there was an incipient class structure. Typically, each village had a
headman, called a cacique, whose duty it was to represent the village
when dealing with other tribes, to settle family disputes and organize
defence. However, he had no powers of coercion and was often little more
than a nominal head. The position was largely hereditary, with the eldest
son of the eldest sister having rights of succession, but women could
and did become caciques. In the larger communities, there was some
delegation of responsibility to the senior men, but economic activities
were usually organized along family lines, and their power was limited.
The division of labour was usually based on age and sex. The men would
clear and prepare the land for agriculture and be responsible for defence
of the village, while women cultivated the crops and were the major food
producers, also making items such as mats, baskets, bowls and fishing
nets. Women were in charge of raising the children, especially the girls,
while the men taught the boys traditional customs, skills and rites.
The Tainos hunted for some of their food, but fishing was more important
and most of their settlements were close to the sea. Fish and shellfish
were their main sources of protein and they had many different ways of
catching them, from hands, baskets or nets to poisoning, shooting or line
fishing. Cassava was a staple food, which they had successfully learned
to leach of its poisonous juice. They also grew yams, maize, cotton, arrowroot,
peanuts, beans, cocoa and spices, rotating their crops to prevent soil
erosion. It is documented that in Jamaica they had three harvests of maize
annually, using maize and cassava to make breads, cakes and beer.
Cotton was used to make clothing and hammocks (never before seen by Europeans),
while the calabash tree was used to make ropes and cords, baskets and
roofing. Plants were used for medicinal and spiritual purposes, and cosmetics
such as face and body paint. Also important, both to the Arawaks and later
to the Europeans, was the cultivation of tobacco, as a drug and as a means
of exchange.
They had no writing, no beasts of burden, no wheeled vehicles and no hard
metals, although they did have some alluvial gold for personal ornament.
The abundance of food allowed them time to develop their arts and crafts
and they were skilled in woodwork and pottery. They had polished stone
tools, but also carved shell implements for manioc preparation or as fishhooks.
Coral manioc graters have also been found. Their boatbuilding techniques
were noted by Columbus,
who marvelled at their canoes of up to 75 ft in length, carrying up to
50 people, made of a single tree trunk in one piece. It took 2 months
to fell a tree by gradually burning and chipping it down, and many more
to make the canoe.
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