Chiefdoms of Hispaniola

Common card · No. 334900

The chiefdoms of Hispaniola (cacicazgo in Spanish) were the primary political units employed by the Indigenous inhabitants of Hispaniola (Taíno: Haití, Babeque, Bohío; Ciguayo: Quisqueya) in the early historical era, including the Taíno, the Ciguayos, and the Macorix. At the time of European contact in 1492, the island was divided into five Taíno chiefdoms (in Spanish, cacicazgos), each headed by a cacique. Below him were lesser caciques presiding over villages or districts and nitaínos, an elite class. The Indigenous peoples of Hispaniola principally spoke Taíno, which was spoken across the islands of the Greater Antilles, but also two minor languages that were already moribund at the time of European contact. At this time, the Taíno were at war with a rival Indigenous group, the Kalinago. In 1508, there were about 60,000 Indigenous people on the island of Hispaniola; by 1531, infectious disease epidemics and exploitation had resulted in a dramatic decline in population. The boundaries...

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