Decimation of the Tainos

Decimation of the Tainos The Spaniards used the Amerindians as sport. They place bets to see who could chop off a Taino's head at one blow. The spanish's claim and subsequent domination of the New World (Treaty of Tordesillas 1494) would change the way of life of the Indigenous people forever! They believed that their culture was the superior and better culture and therefore set about to establish their way of life. They seemed to think that the Amerindians (Indigenous Peoples) should feel honoured to adopt this 'superior' way of life. They did not expect and could not understand or appreciate the resistance of the natives. As a result they did not exercise much tolerance or understanding in their dealings with them. In fact they felt that their superior way of life and weapons justified their use of force as well as their general behaviour. This clearly meant that within a short space of time the way of life of the Indigenous peoples would be destroyed. The major results of the interaction between these two groups in the early period of colonisation and conquest 1492-1510.

GENOCIDE OF THE AMERINDIANS * Defeat in battle. the Amerindians were unfamiliar with the Spanish superior weapons such as guns and cannons. some of the Spaniards were on horses while the Amerindians were on foot. The Tainos and Kalinagos had never seen an animal larger than the coney. * Deadly diseases Spaniards introduced diseases for which the Amerindians had neither immunity nor cure, for example smallpox. * Overwork the Amerindians were not used to forced labour. They died from overwork in the mines and strenuous work in the fields providing food supplies for the newcomers. * Some of the Amerindians committed suicide and infanticide rather than submit to the tyranny and cruelty of their masters. For example, they drank poisonous cassava juice and threw their babies over cliffs. * The Spaniards used the Amerindians as sport. They would place bets to see who could chop off a Taino's head at one blow. * Some were killed in raids by the newcomers/settlers for food, land and women in particular. You should recall the first record of this happening in early 1493 at La Navidad, the first settlement established by Christopher Columbus. In 1493 there were between 200,000 300, 000 Tainos in Hispaniola. By the end of 1496 approximately 3 years later as many as two thirds of that number were dead! (Claypole&Robottom)

ECONOMIC LOSSES Tax system * The Tainos were forced to pay taxes to the Europeans. Males 14 years and older were required to pay a hawk's bell full of gold every three months. All others were required to pay 25 lbs. of spun cotton or be subjected to several weeks of unpaid labour if they could not produce the cotton. The encomienda system * This was instituted by Don Nicholas de Ovando, who was appointed Governor of Hispaniola in 1502. It was intended to be a labour system. The encomendero Spanish colonists was supposed to provide food and shelter for the Indians in his charge. He was also to ensure that they were converted to Christianity. In return the Indians were obligated to provide him with labour and/or produce. Instead the Indians were underfed, ill treated and overworked

CHANGE IN SOCIAL COMPOSITION Rape and Sexual contact/relationships between Amerindians and Europeans led to the creation of a new group of people known as 'mestizos' or half-caste.

DESTRUCTION OF PROPERTY * Spanish animals trampled the Amerindians food crops as lazy settlers unwilling to provide the necessary fencing allowed their pigs to roam freely. * Spaniards literally destroyed Amerindians' idols, houses etc. RESISTANCE * In response, some Amerindians burnt Spanish food stores and destroyed their crops. maroonage * Some of the Amerindians fled to the safety of the mountains, forests and caves. This was possible in colonies such as Jamaica, St. Vincent, Dominica and St. Lucia. Migration * This was more common in the Lesser Antilles where the Kalinagos with their intimate knowledge of the area travelled (by canoes) to neighbouring territories and sought refuge. Attacks * As a spinoff of # 5&6 these Amerindians staged various attacks on Spanish settlements. The aggressive Kalinagos would not surrender without a fight. As late as 1625 they proved to be a formidable force to reckon with for the Englishman Sir Thomas Warner in St. Kitts Amerindian co-operation They began to: (a) concentrate on fighting for their own survival against the Europeans. and (b) fight together against the intruders.

* The common response of the Amerindians to the invasion of the Europeans lessened considerably the threat of rivalry and conflict between the Tainos and the Kalinagos in particular.

CULTURAL EXCHANGE (a) The Amerindians introduced the Spaniards to : * tobacco smoking * the use of the hammock * the medicinal properties of certain herbs * certain tropical products e.g., root crops, beans, etc. (b) The Spaniards introduced the Amerindians to : * a better inland transport system horses * sturdier, more modern housing * a more elaborate system of Government * a new religion Roman Catholic Church * new crops all citrus except the grapefruit, sugar, etc., * a wider variety of food items * a different style of dressing * new animals cattle, pigs, chickens, goats (c) At first the Spaniards began trading with the Amerindians, exchanging their European products for the Amerindians' gold.

(d) Some of the Spaniards learnt the language of the Amerindians. For example according to Victor von Hagen The World of the Mayas, Geronimo de Aguilar was one of the first white men to live in Yucatan and the first to learn a Mayan language.

The converse, he says, was also true. La Malinche a Mayan woman became an interpreter for the explorer Cortes.

REFERENCES

The History of Jamaica Clinton V. Black The Story of Our Islands E.H. Carter, G.W. Digby, R.N. Murray Caribbean Story Bk.1 W. Claypole & J. Robottom Caribbean Revision for CXC P. Ashdown & F. Humphreys The People Who Came Bk. 1 Alma Norman