#REDIRECT Tano
''From Wikipedia:Speedy deletions'' * Tano - cut & paste move. Need to delete in order to move Taino there. User:JohnCrawford —User:JohnCrawford | User talk:JohnCrawford 21:32, 14 May 2004 (UTC) **Why no discussion on the Talk page about the move? How many people agree that it should be moved? I ask this because it was originally moved the other way in Dec 2002. (Also, I am restoring the redirect on Tano instead of the cut-and-paste. Wait until the merge/move. Don't try to maintain two articles.) - User:TextureUser Talk:TextureUser:Texture 21:38, 14 May 2004 (UTC) *** The correct word is Tano, with an acute on the 'i'. Have you noticed the convenience used in the Fhrer article? Tano should be the main article, with Taino being a redirect to it. User:JohnCrawford —User:JohnCrawford | User talk:JohnCrawford 23:11, 16 May 2004 (UTC) ****That is a valid point. Since it has already been moved once in the opposite direction I think it best if you start a topic on the talk page regarding your suggested move. - User:TextureUser Talk:TextureUser:Texture 23:54, 16 May 2004 (UTC) *****Please leave this on the talk page for a week first. If there are no objections, then it can be moved, but currently most pages link to Special:Whatlinkshere/Taino, not Special:Whatlinkshere/Tano, and there are far more Google hits for [http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Taino Taino] than [http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Ta%C3%ADno Tano]. User:Angelauser talk:Angela 00:00, May 17, 2004 (UTC) ==Article's introduction; cultural heritage== I am about to make a pretty severe edit of the introduction to this story. The simple truth of the matter, which no serious academic questions, is that the Tanos culture ceased to exist in the 16th century. The problem is that there are a couple of small groups who insist that they are full-blooded "Tanos", mostly based in New Jersey, intent on gaining recognition as a tribal nation. This is simply ridiculous, given the historical record. Claims about DNA tests are irrelevant for two reasons: (a) there was a significant number of South and Central American Amerindians who immigrated to Puerto Rico throughout its time as a Spanish colony; (b) whatever the DNA of anybody in Puerto Rico, Tano culture has been dead for 400-450 years. The current introduction also has a glaring flaw of logic where it "proves" that supposedly 62% of the population of Puerto Rico has a significant amount of Tano descent. -- User:171.64.42.82 04:13, 30 May 2004 (UTC) : Hello, if you haven't registered your username so far please take a moment to do so. You can do so by visiting the Special:Userlogin. It takes only a few seconds. =) : While I may agree with you that the Taino culture can be considered as dead, others do not. That is why Dr. Juan Carlos Martnez Cruzado from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez is currently investigating this on his research projects. : User:JohnCrawford —User:JohnCrawford | User talk:JohnCrawford 05:26, 30 May 2004 (UTC) :: Martnez Cruzado very clearly flubs Puerto Rican history by saying that the "Indians" in the 1777 and 1787 censuses were Tanos-- hell, he's citing Salvador Brau, a 19th century historian. It is well known that there was Amerindian immigration to the island from South America (a fact that can be picked up easily if your source is more recent than 1894!). :: mtDNA is weird: it is transmitted almost exclusively through the maternal line. It is stereotypical of colonial situations that the colonists are predominantly male, and that they take native wives and/or concubines. One definitely expects a founder effect for mtDNA. :: And anyway, the whole project is infused with a subtle racism that I don't know whether you can grasp. -- User:171.64.42.82 09:55, 30 May 2004 (UTC) :: I made an edit to your edits. First, the center of contemporary Tano self-identification is New Jersey, not Puerto Rico. Second, I looked through the article about Tano heritage in the Dominican Republic; the article's conclusion that "the roots of traditional Dominican culture are truly Tano" is plain ridiculous. Just because the Dominicans have a folk ideology that attributes admirable qualities to the Tanos doesn't mean that their culture is Tano. Very, very little of what the author mentions is any actual cultural transmission; and a lot of it is disguised racism (it's good to be "indio", bad to be "black"). :: Every place where you say the plural "scholars", you mean something like "two loonies with a weird agenda." Also, you reinserted the nonsense math averaging the averages of two samples, one of them admittedly nonrepresentative. :: In short, I suspect this article is being hijacked for a political agenda, by prominently citing two utterly nonrepresentative sources of scholarship on this topic. -- User:171.64.42.82 10:27, 30 May 2004 (UTC) == Beware hijacking == I just reviewed the history of this entry, and I must warn editors that it runs a terrible risk of being hijacked for political causes. Tano culture ceased to exist over 400 years ago. However, in recent decades, a small group of Puerto Ricans in the USA, based in New Jersey, have been agitating to be recognized as the true item by the US Government and gullible academics. As such, this group of people endeavors to place their Tano survival propaganda all over the web. The history of this entry shows this very clearly. The people doing this are intellectually dishonest. The one truly interesting bit of information that they cite is mtDNA studies of the Puerto Rican population. They regularly fudge the math on these; for example, this article had the following statment: "In research, sample sets collected from people who claimed to have a maternal ancestor with Native American physiognomic traits showed a higher likelihood of possessing Native American mtDNAs (70%) than did unbiased sample sets (53%). Averaging between these two figures would suggest that 62% of the entire Puerto Rican population descend, at least in part, from the Tano..." This is really, really bad math, averaging from two different, non-representative samples. Another thing that jumps out is the fact that one of the references inserted by JohnCrawford's recent edit was from the e-"journal" [http://www.kacike.org/ Kacike]. The name of this journal is cognate to the word "cacique", which is the word recorded by the Spaniards for Tano chiefs. A quick examination of the journal's index reveals that a grand total of 12 people have published in it, and 7 of these are either in the Editorial Board or Editorial Staff ("peer review" my a**). It can't have had more than 3 or 4 issues. Also, browsing through the articles, they are clearly about pushing an agenda, and a number of them show very questionable scholarship; for example [http://www.kacike.org/FerbelEnglish.html this article by P.J. Ferbel] (who, incidentally, is Assistant Editor) reads like something an undergrad would write. The biggest problem is that before long, the combination of fake New Jersey "We want affirmative action and casinos" "Tano tribe", and the Dominican "I'm not Black like the Haitians, I'm Indian like the Tanos" racists, will again conspire to pass fantasy and questionable scholarship as fact, and set their aims at this entry again. -- User:171.64.42.82 11:41, 30 May 2004 (UTC) : Relax dude. Then register up. User:JohnCrawford —User:JohnCrawford | User talk:JohnCrawford 05:23, 31 May 2004 (UTC)
The Tano are pre-colombian Indigenous peoples Amerindian inhabitants of the Greater Antilles islands, which include Cuba, Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic), Puerto Rico, Jamaica and the Bahamas. The seafaring Tano are relatives of the Arawakan peoples of South America. Tano of the Bahamas were known as Lucayan. Their language is a member of the Arawakan languages linguistic family, also found in South America. The Tano culture was nearly destroyed in the 1700s, decimated by genocide, introduced disease, and forced assimilation into the plantation economy that Spain imposed in its Caribbean colonies, with its subsequent importation of African slave workers. There was substantial mestizage as well as several Indian pueblos that survived into the 19th Century (Cuba). The Spaniards who first arrived in the Bahamas, Cuba and Hispanola in 1492, and later in Puerto Rico in 1508, did not bring women. They took many Taino wives in civil marriages, and had mestizo children. At the time of Colon's arrival in 1492, there were five Tano "kingdoms" or territories on Hispaniola, each led by a principal Cacique (chieftain), to whom tribute was paid. Another indigenous group called the Carib lived in the islands. This group is said to be another Arawakan related people originally from South America. The Tainos and the Carib would sometimes battle each other. At the time of the Spanish Conquest, the largest Tano population centers may have contained around 3,000 people or more. ==Culture and Lifestyle== In the center of a typical Tano village (yucayeque) was a flat court (batey) used for various social activities such as games, various festivals and public ceremonies. Houses would surround this court. The Tano played a ceremonial ball game called "Batu" between opposing teams (of 10 to 30 players per team) using a solid rubber ball. Batu was also used for conflict resolution between communites. Tano society was divided into four main sections: *1) naboria (common people) *2) nitano (sub-chiefs) *3) bohique (priests/healers) *4) cacique (chieftains) Often, the general population lived in large circular buildings (bohio), constructed with wooden poles, woven straw, and palm leaves. These houses could hold 10-15 families. The caciques and his family would live in rectangular buildings (caney) of similar construction, with wooden porches. Tano home furnishings included cotton hammocks (hamaca), mats made of palms, wooden chairs (dujo) with woven seats, platforms, and cradles for children. The Tano practised a mainly agrarian lifestyle but also fished and hunted. A frequently worn hair style featured bangs in front and longer hair in back. They sometimes wore gold jewellery, paint, and/or, shells. Tano men sometimes wore short skirts. Taino women wore a similar garment (nagua) after marriage. The Tano spoke a form of Arawak language and used the words: barbacoa (''barbecue''), hamaca (''hammock''), canoa (''canoe''), tabaco (''tobacco''), yuca (''yucca'') and Huracan (''hurricane'') which have been incorporated into the Spanish and English languages. Some Tano practiced polygamy. Men, and sometimes women, might have 2 or 3 spouses, and the caciques would marry as many as 30. The Taino indians originally came from what is today Venezuela and moved through the Caribbean and into parts of Florida. ==Food and Agriculture== The Tano diet was centered around vegetables, meat and fish. There never were many large wild animals to hunt on the islands, but small animals such as rodents, bats, worms, ducks, turtles, and birds were utilized. Tano groups in the interior of the islands relied more on agriculture. Their crops were raised in a conuco, a large mound, which was packed with leaves to prevent erosion and then planted with a variety of crops to assure that something would grow, no matter what the weather conditions. They used a coa, an early kind of hoe made completely out of wood. One of the primary crops cultivated by the Tano was cassava, which they ate as a flat bread similar to a burrito or pizza shell. The Tano also grew maize, squash, beans, peppers, sweet potatoes, yams, peanuts as well as tobacco. ==Technology== The Tano used cotton, hemp and palm extensively for fishing nets and ropes. Their dugout canoes (Kanoa) were made in various sizes, which could hold from 2 to 150 people. An average sized Kanoa would hold about 15 - 20 persons. They used bows and arrows, and sometimes put various poisons on their arrowheads. They used spears for fishing. For warfare, they employed the use of a wooden war club, which they called a macana, that was about one inch thick and was similar to the cocomaque. ==Religion== The Tano respected all forms of life and recognized the importance of giving thanks, as well as honoring ancestors and spiritual beings whom they called (Cemi). [http://www.hartford-hwp.com/Taino/photos/zemi.html (meaning)] Many stone carvings of Cemi have survived. Some of the stalagmites of the Caves of Dondon were carved into the figures of Cemi. The Cemi are sometimes represented by toads, turtles, snakes, caiman and various abstract and human-like faces. During certain ceremonies, the Tano would induce vomiting with a swallowing stick. This was to purge the body of impurities, both a literal physical purging and a symbolic spiritual purging. After the serving of communal bread, first to the Cemi, then to the cacique, and then to the common people; the village epic would be sung and accompanied by maraca and other instruments. Tano oral tradition explains that the sun and moon come out of caves. Another story tells that people once lived in caves and only came out at night, because it was believed that the Sun would transform them. The origin of the oceans is described in the story of a huge flood which occurred when a father murdered his son (who was about to murder the father), and then put his bones into a gourd or calabash. These bones then turned to fish and the gourd broke and all the water of the world came pouring out. The Supreme God was called "Yucah", which means "white yuca", or "the spirit of the yuca", for the yuca was the main source of food of the Tanos, and as such it was revered. The Tanos of Quisqueya (Dominican Republic) called him "Yucah Bagua Maorocot", which means "White Yuca, great and powerful as the sea and the mountains". "Yucah" was also the invisible spirit of the sky, whose mother was "Atabey", the mother of the gods and spirit of the waters. Other names for this goddess include "Guabancex", "Atabei", "Atabeyra", "Atabex", and "Guimazoa". "Huracn" was the evil god of storms, although some historians claim this was only the Tano term for "storm", and the real goddess of storms was "Guabancex". Other minor gods or "cemes" include "Boinayel" (god of rain, in other sources the Sun god), the messenger "Guataub", "Deminn Caracaracol" (who broke the gourd and caused the flooding of the world and the spreading of the waters), "Opiyelguabirn" (a dog-shaped god), and "Maketaori Guayaba" (the ruler of the Coaybay, the underworld). The Tanos believed that the souls of the dead go to Coaybay, the underworld, and there they rest by day, and when night comes they assume the form of bats and eat the fruit "guayaba". Some anthropologists assert that some or all of the Petwo Voodoo rites may have their origins in Tano religion. ==Columbus and the Tano== Columbus and his crew, landing in the Bahamas on October 12th, 1492 were the first Europeans to encounter the Taino People. It was Columbus who called the Taino "Indians", an identification that was grown to encompass all the indigenous Peoples of the Western Hemisphere. There is debate as to how many Tano inhabited Hispaniola when Columbus landed in 1492. The Catholic priest and contemporary historian Bartolome de Las Casas wrote (1561) in his multivolume History of the Indies: :"''There were 60,000 people living on this island [when I arrived in 1508], including the Indians; so that from 1494 to 1508, over three million people had perished from war, slavery and the mines. Who in future generations will believe this?''" It is proposed by some historians today that Las Casas's figures for the pre-contact levels of the Taino population were an exaggeration and that a figure closer to one million is more likely. The Taino population estimates range all over, from a few hundred thousand up to 8,000,000. They were not immune to European diseases, notably smallpox, but many of them were worked to death in the mines and fields, put to death in harsh put-downs of revolts or committed suicide to escape their cruel new masters. Some academics have suggested that the numbers the population had shrunk to 60,000 and by 1531 to 3000 in Hispanola. On Columbus' 2nd voyage, he began to require tribute from the Tano in Hispanola. Each adult over 14 years of age, was expected to deliver a certain quantity of gold. In the earlier days of the conquest, if this tribute was not observed, the Taino were either mutilated or executed. Later on, fearing a loss of labor forces, they were ordered to bring pound of cotton. This also gave way to a service requirement called "encomienda". Under this system, Taino were required to work for a Spanish land owner for most of the year, which left little time to tend to their own commuity affairs. ==Taino opposition== In 1511, several caciques in Puerto Rico allied with the Caribs and tried to oust the Spaniards. The revolt was pacified by the forces of Governor Juan Ponce de Len. In Hispanola, a Taino Chieftain named Enriquillo also mobilized over 3000 remaining Taino in a rebellion in the 1530s. ==Tano Heritage in Modern Times== The general scholarly opinion is that Tano culture became extinct in the 1700s, wiped out by genocide and introduced disease; however many people still claim to be decendants of the Tano, most notably among Puerto Ricans, both on the island and US mainland. Those who claim to be Taino decendants have been active in trying to assert a call for recognition of their tribe. Recently, a few contemporary Taino organizations, such as ''The United Confederation of Tano People'' [http://www.uctp.org/] and ''The Jatibonic Taino Tribal Nation of Boriken (Puerto Rico) [http://www.taino-tribe.org]'', have been established to put forth these claims. ==Related topics== * List of Taínos * Agueybana - "supreme cacique" in Puerto Rico * Agueybana - "Agueybana's brother * Arasibo - cacique * Caguax - cacique * Hatuey - cacique * Hayuya - cacique * Jumacao - cacique * Lucayan - Arawak tribe that inhabited the Bahamas * Orocobix - cacique of the Jatibonicu Taino Puerto Rico ==References== # United Confederation of Taino People http://www.uctp.org/ # [http://www.hartford-hwp.com/Taino/jatibonuco.html The Jatibonic Taino Tribal Band of New Jersey] (A Tribal Government Affairs website) # [http://www.taino-tribe.org/index.html The Jatibonic Taino Tribal Nation of Boriken] (Puerto Rico Tribal Government website) # DeRLAS. [http://www.udel.edu/LASP/Vol1-2MartinezC.html Some important research contributions of Genetics to the study of Population History and Anthropology in Puerto Rico]. Newark, Delaware: ''Delaware Review of Latin American Studies''. August 15, 2000. Native American tribes History of Puerto Rico Indigenous peoples of the Caribbean Arawakan languages Languages of the Caribbean Ethnic groups of the Caribbean
In a page like this, what is important is a balance of academic and indigenous community perspective. I have noticed from my earlier edits that my perspective as a Taino, have been altered time and time again. I would like to inform those making future edits that I will remain diligent and continue to educate persons with respect to Taino culture in the best way possible. That includes revisting this page and making sure the Taino perspective is well represented. I look forward to any dialogue on this matter. Bo'matum (Thank you), Roberto Mucaro Borrero == To Mr. Berrero == Mr. Berrero, I am a teenager of partial Taino descent who is interested finding out more about Taino culture and history than this short encyclopedia entry would allow. To be completely correct, I am not 'sure' that I am Taino, but I do know that I am descended of Cuban Indians, and that sort of makes Taino the most likely. I know a bunch about my European heritages, and even quite a bit about modern Cuba. But I now wish to know about these ancient inhabitants of those sun-washed islands, the land of my father's fathers. In short, my interest has been piqued. I would appreciate it if you could tell me where I can find resources that would help me. Please leave another message here if your interested, and we can figure something out. Bo'matum, KC Lopez == barbecue == It is claimed that the word 'barbecue' comes from the Tano language. If this is true, it would be a nice fact to add to the article. If it's not, it could be explained in the barbecue article... The Tainos used the word "barbacoa" when referring to an observation post built in the fields to watch the crops. It was made of wood and high enough to watch the fields. There is probably no relation to the modern barbecue. Carmen
See other meanings of words starting from letter:
Words begining with Taino:
Taino
Taino
Tano
Tano
Tainos
Tanos
Taino_Indians
Taino
#REDIRECT Tano
Taino
''From Wikipedia:Speedy deletions'' * Tano - cut & paste move. Need to delete in order to move Taino there. User:JohnCrawford —User:JohnCrawford | User talk:JohnCrawford 21:32, 14 May 2004 (UTC) **Why no discussion on the Talk page about the move? How many people agree that it should be moved? I ask this because it was originally moved the other way in Dec 2002. (Also, I am restoring the redirect on Tano instead of the cut-and-paste. Wait until the merge/move. Don't try to maintain two articles.) - User:TextureUser Talk:TextureUser:Texture 21:38, 14 May 2004 (UTC) *** The correct word is Tano, with an acute on the 'i'. Have you noticed the convenience used in the Fhrer article? Tano should be the main article, with Taino being a redirect to it. User:JohnCrawford —User:JohnCrawford | User talk:JohnCrawford 23:11, 16 May 2004 (UTC) ****That is a valid point. Since it has already been moved once in the opposite direction I think it best if you start a topic on the talk page regarding your suggested move. - User:TextureUser Talk:TextureUser:Texture 23:54, 16 May 2004 (UTC) *****Please leave this on the talk page for a week first. If there are no objections, then it can be moved, but currently most pages link to Special:Whatlinkshere/Taino, not Special:Whatlinkshere/Tano, and there are far more Google hits for [http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Taino Taino] than [http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Ta%C3%ADno Tano]. User:Angelauser talk:Angela 00:00, May 17, 2004 (UTC) ==Article's introduction; cultural heritage== I am about to make a pretty severe edit of the introduction to this story. The simple truth of the matter, which no serious academic questions, is that the Tanos culture ceased to exist in the 16th century. The problem is that there are a couple of small groups who insist that they are full-blooded "Tanos", mostly based in New Jersey, intent on gaining recognition as a tribal nation. This is simply ridiculous, given the historical record. Claims about DNA tests are irrelevant for two reasons: (a) there was a significant number of South and Central American Amerindians who immigrated to Puerto Rico throughout its time as a Spanish colony; (b) whatever the DNA of anybody in Puerto Rico, Tano culture has been dead for 400-450 years. The current introduction also has a glaring flaw of logic where it "proves" that supposedly 62% of the population of Puerto Rico has a significant amount of Tano descent. -- User:171.64.42.82 04:13, 30 May 2004 (UTC) : Hello, if you haven't registered your username so far please take a moment to do so. You can do so by visiting the Special:Userlogin. It takes only a few seconds. =) : While I may agree with you that the Taino culture can be considered as dead, others do not. That is why Dr. Juan Carlos Martnez Cruzado from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez is currently investigating this on his research projects. : User:JohnCrawford —User:JohnCrawford | User talk:JohnCrawford 05:26, 30 May 2004 (UTC) :: Martnez Cruzado very clearly flubs Puerto Rican history by saying that the "Indians" in the 1777 and 1787 censuses were Tanos-- hell, he's citing Salvador Brau, a 19th century historian. It is well known that there was Amerindian immigration to the island from South America (a fact that can be picked up easily if your source is more recent than 1894!). :: mtDNA is weird: it is transmitted almost exclusively through the maternal line. It is stereotypical of colonial situations that the colonists are predominantly male, and that they take native wives and/or concubines. One definitely expects a founder effect for mtDNA. :: And anyway, the whole project is infused with a subtle racism that I don't know whether you can grasp. -- User:171.64.42.82 09:55, 30 May 2004 (UTC) :: I made an edit to your edits. First, the center of contemporary Tano self-identification is New Jersey, not Puerto Rico. Second, I looked through the article about Tano heritage in the Dominican Republic; the article's conclusion that "the roots of traditional Dominican culture are truly Tano" is plain ridiculous. Just because the Dominicans have a folk ideology that attributes admirable qualities to the Tanos doesn't mean that their culture is Tano. Very, very little of what the author mentions is any actual cultural transmission; and a lot of it is disguised racism (it's good to be "indio", bad to be "black"). :: Every place where you say the plural "scholars", you mean something like "two loonies with a weird agenda." Also, you reinserted the nonsense math averaging the averages of two samples, one of them admittedly nonrepresentative. :: In short, I suspect this article is being hijacked for a political agenda, by prominently citing two utterly nonrepresentative sources of scholarship on this topic. -- User:171.64.42.82 10:27, 30 May 2004 (UTC) == Beware hijacking == I just reviewed the history of this entry, and I must warn editors that it runs a terrible risk of being hijacked for political causes. Tano culture ceased to exist over 400 years ago. However, in recent decades, a small group of Puerto Ricans in the USA, based in New Jersey, have been agitating to be recognized as the true item by the US Government and gullible academics. As such, this group of people endeavors to place their Tano survival propaganda all over the web. The history of this entry shows this very clearly. The people doing this are intellectually dishonest. The one truly interesting bit of information that they cite is mtDNA studies of the Puerto Rican population. They regularly fudge the math on these; for example, this article had the following statment: "In research, sample sets collected from people who claimed to have a maternal ancestor with Native American physiognomic traits showed a higher likelihood of possessing Native American mtDNAs (70%) than did unbiased sample sets (53%). Averaging between these two figures would suggest that 62% of the entire Puerto Rican population descend, at least in part, from the Tano..." This is really, really bad math, averaging from two different, non-representative samples. Another thing that jumps out is the fact that one of the references inserted by JohnCrawford's recent edit was from the e-"journal" [http://www.kacike.org/ Kacike]. The name of this journal is cognate to the word "cacique", which is the word recorded by the Spaniards for Tano chiefs. A quick examination of the journal's index reveals that a grand total of 12 people have published in it, and 7 of these are either in the Editorial Board or Editorial Staff ("peer review" my a**). It can't have had more than 3 or 4 issues. Also, browsing through the articles, they are clearly about pushing an agenda, and a number of them show very questionable scholarship; for example [http://www.kacike.org/FerbelEnglish.html this article by P.J. Ferbel] (who, incidentally, is Assistant Editor) reads like something an undergrad would write. The biggest problem is that before long, the combination of fake New Jersey "We want affirmative action and casinos" "Tano tribe", and the Dominican "I'm not Black like the Haitians, I'm Indian like the Tanos" racists, will again conspire to pass fantasy and questionable scholarship as fact, and set their aims at this entry again. -- User:171.64.42.82 11:41, 30 May 2004 (UTC) : Relax dude. Then register up. User:JohnCrawford —User:JohnCrawford | User talk:JohnCrawford 05:23, 31 May 2004 (UTC)
Tano
The Tano are pre-colombian Indigenous peoples Amerindian inhabitants of the Greater Antilles islands, which include Cuba, Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic), Puerto Rico, Jamaica and the Bahamas. The seafaring Tano are relatives of the Arawakan peoples of South America. Tano of the Bahamas were known as Lucayan. Their language is a member of the Arawakan languages linguistic family, also found in South America. The Tano culture was nearly destroyed in the 1700s, decimated by genocide, introduced disease, and forced assimilation into the plantation economy that Spain imposed in its Caribbean colonies, with its subsequent importation of African slave workers. There was substantial mestizage as well as several Indian pueblos that survived into the 19th Century (Cuba). The Spaniards who first arrived in the Bahamas, Cuba and Hispanola in 1492, and later in Puerto Rico in 1508, did not bring women. They took many Taino wives in civil marriages, and had mestizo children. At the time of Colon's arrival in 1492, there were five Tano "kingdoms" or territories on Hispaniola, each led by a principal Cacique (chieftain), to whom tribute was paid. Another indigenous group called the Carib lived in the islands. This group is said to be another Arawakan related people originally from South America. The Tainos and the Carib would sometimes battle each other. At the time of the Spanish Conquest, the largest Tano population centers may have contained around 3,000 people or more. ==Culture and Lifestyle== In the center of a typical Tano village (yucayeque) was a flat court (batey) used for various social activities such as games, various festivals and public ceremonies. Houses would surround this court. The Tano played a ceremonial ball game called "Batu" between opposing teams (of 10 to 30 players per team) using a solid rubber ball. Batu was also used for conflict resolution between communites. Tano society was divided into four main sections: *1) naboria (common people) *2) nitano (sub-chiefs) *3) bohique (priests/healers) *4) cacique (chieftains) Often, the general population lived in large circular buildings (bohio), constructed with wooden poles, woven straw, and palm leaves. These houses could hold 10-15 families. The caciques and his family would live in rectangular buildings (caney) of similar construction, with wooden porches. Tano home furnishings included cotton hammocks (hamaca), mats made of palms, wooden chairs (dujo) with woven seats, platforms, and cradles for children. The Tano practised a mainly agrarian lifestyle but also fished and hunted. A frequently worn hair style featured bangs in front and longer hair in back. They sometimes wore gold jewellery, paint, and/or, shells. Tano men sometimes wore short skirts. Taino women wore a similar garment (nagua) after marriage. The Tano spoke a form of Arawak language and used the words: barbacoa (''barbecue''), hamaca (''hammock''), canoa (''canoe''), tabaco (''tobacco''), yuca (''yucca'') and Huracan (''hurricane'') which have been incorporated into the Spanish and English languages. Some Tano practiced polygamy. Men, and sometimes women, might have 2 or 3 spouses, and the caciques would marry as many as 30. The Taino indians originally came from what is today Venezuela and moved through the Caribbean and into parts of Florida. ==Food and Agriculture== The Tano diet was centered around vegetables, meat and fish. There never were many large wild animals to hunt on the islands, but small animals such as rodents, bats, worms, ducks, turtles, and birds were utilized. Tano groups in the interior of the islands relied more on agriculture. Their crops were raised in a conuco, a large mound, which was packed with leaves to prevent erosion and then planted with a variety of crops to assure that something would grow, no matter what the weather conditions. They used a coa, an early kind of hoe made completely out of wood. One of the primary crops cultivated by the Tano was cassava, which they ate as a flat bread similar to a burrito or pizza shell. The Tano also grew maize, squash, beans, peppers, sweet potatoes, yams, peanuts as well as tobacco. ==Technology== The Tano used cotton, hemp and palm extensively for fishing nets and ropes. Their dugout canoes (Kanoa) were made in various sizes, which could hold from 2 to 150 people. An average sized Kanoa would hold about 15 - 20 persons. They used bows and arrows, and sometimes put various poisons on their arrowheads. They used spears for fishing. For warfare, they employed the use of a wooden war club, which they called a macana, that was about one inch thick and was similar to the cocomaque. ==Religion== The Tano respected all forms of life and recognized the importance of giving thanks, as well as honoring ancestors and spiritual beings whom they called (Cemi). [http://www.hartford-hwp.com/Taino/photos/zemi.html (meaning)] Many stone carvings of Cemi have survived. Some of the stalagmites of the Caves of Dondon were carved into the figures of Cemi. The Cemi are sometimes represented by toads, turtles, snakes, caiman and various abstract and human-like faces. During certain ceremonies, the Tano would induce vomiting with a swallowing stick. This was to purge the body of impurities, both a literal physical purging and a symbolic spiritual purging. After the serving of communal bread, first to the Cemi, then to the cacique, and then to the common people; the village epic would be sung and accompanied by maraca and other instruments. Tano oral tradition explains that the sun and moon come out of caves. Another story tells that people once lived in caves and only came out at night, because it was believed that the Sun would transform them. The origin of the oceans is described in the story of a huge flood which occurred when a father murdered his son (who was about to murder the father), and then put his bones into a gourd or calabash. These bones then turned to fish and the gourd broke and all the water of the world came pouring out. The Supreme God was called "Yucah", which means "white yuca", or "the spirit of the yuca", for the yuca was the main source of food of the Tanos, and as such it was revered. The Tanos of Quisqueya (Dominican Republic) called him "Yucah Bagua Maorocot", which means "White Yuca, great and powerful as the sea and the mountains". "Yucah" was also the invisible spirit of the sky, whose mother was "Atabey", the mother of the gods and spirit of the waters. Other names for this goddess include "Guabancex", "Atabei", "Atabeyra", "Atabex", and "Guimazoa". "Huracn" was the evil god of storms, although some historians claim this was only the Tano term for "storm", and the real goddess of storms was "Guabancex". Other minor gods or "cemes" include "Boinayel" (god of rain, in other sources the Sun god), the messenger "Guataub", "Deminn Caracaracol" (who broke the gourd and caused the flooding of the world and the spreading of the waters), "Opiyelguabirn" (a dog-shaped god), and "Maketaori Guayaba" (the ruler of the Coaybay, the underworld). The Tanos believed that the souls of the dead go to Coaybay, the underworld, and there they rest by day, and when night comes they assume the form of bats and eat the fruit "guayaba". Some anthropologists assert that some or all of the Petwo Voodoo rites may have their origins in Tano religion. ==Columbus and the Tano== Columbus and his crew, landing in the Bahamas on October 12th, 1492 were the first Europeans to encounter the Taino People. It was Columbus who called the Taino "Indians", an identification that was grown to encompass all the indigenous Peoples of the Western Hemisphere. There is debate as to how many Tano inhabited Hispaniola when Columbus landed in 1492. The Catholic priest and contemporary historian Bartolome de Las Casas wrote (1561) in his multivolume History of the Indies: :"''There were 60,000 people living on this island [when I arrived in 1508], including the Indians; so that from 1494 to 1508, over three million people had perished from war, slavery and the mines. Who in future generations will believe this?''" It is proposed by some historians today that Las Casas's figures for the pre-contact levels of the Taino population were an exaggeration and that a figure closer to one million is more likely. The Taino population estimates range all over, from a few hundred thousand up to 8,000,000. They were not immune to European diseases, notably smallpox, but many of them were worked to death in the mines and fields, put to death in harsh put-downs of revolts or committed suicide to escape their cruel new masters. Some academics have suggested that the numbers the population had shrunk to 60,000 and by 1531 to 3000 in Hispanola. On Columbus' 2nd voyage, he began to require tribute from the Tano in Hispanola. Each adult over 14 years of age, was expected to deliver a certain quantity of gold. In the earlier days of the conquest, if this tribute was not observed, the Taino were either mutilated or executed. Later on, fearing a loss of labor forces, they were ordered to bring pound of cotton. This also gave way to a service requirement called "encomienda". Under this system, Taino were required to work for a Spanish land owner for most of the year, which left little time to tend to their own commuity affairs. ==Taino opposition== In 1511, several caciques in Puerto Rico allied with the Caribs and tried to oust the Spaniards. The revolt was pacified by the forces of Governor Juan Ponce de Len. In Hispanola, a Taino Chieftain named Enriquillo also mobilized over 3000 remaining Taino in a rebellion in the 1530s. ==Tano Heritage in Modern Times== The general scholarly opinion is that Tano culture became extinct in the 1700s, wiped out by genocide and introduced disease; however many people still claim to be decendants of the Tano, most notably among Puerto Ricans, both on the island and US mainland. Those who claim to be Taino decendants have been active in trying to assert a call for recognition of their tribe. Recently, a few contemporary Taino organizations, such as ''The United Confederation of Tano People'' [http://www.uctp.org/] and ''The Jatibonic Taino Tribal Nation of Boriken (Puerto Rico) [http://www.taino-tribe.org]'', have been established to put forth these claims. ==Related topics== * List of Taínos * Agueybana - "supreme cacique" in Puerto Rico * Agueybana - "Agueybana's brother * Arasibo - cacique * Caguax - cacique * Hatuey - cacique * Hayuya - cacique * Jumacao - cacique * Lucayan - Arawak tribe that inhabited the Bahamas * Orocobix - cacique of the Jatibonicu Taino Puerto Rico ==References== # United Confederation of Taino People http://www.uctp.org/ # [http://www.hartford-hwp.com/Taino/jatibonuco.html The Jatibonic Taino Tribal Band of New Jersey] (A Tribal Government Affairs website) # [http://www.taino-tribe.org/index.html The Jatibonic Taino Tribal Nation of Boriken] (Puerto Rico Tribal Government website) # DeRLAS. [http://www.udel.edu/LASP/Vol1-2MartinezC.html Some important research contributions of Genetics to the study of Population History and Anthropology in Puerto Rico]. Newark, Delaware: ''Delaware Review of Latin American Studies''. August 15, 2000. Native American tribes History of Puerto Rico Indigenous peoples of the Caribbean Arawakan languages Languages of the Caribbean Ethnic groups of the Caribbean
Tano
In a page like this, what is important is a balance of academic and indigenous community perspective. I have noticed from my earlier edits that my perspective as a Taino, have been altered time and time again. I would like to inform those making future edits that I will remain diligent and continue to educate persons with respect to Taino culture in the best way possible. That includes revisting this page and making sure the Taino perspective is well represented. I look forward to any dialogue on this matter. Bo'matum (Thank you), Roberto Mucaro Borrero == To Mr. Berrero == Mr. Berrero, I am a teenager of partial Taino descent who is interested finding out more about Taino culture and history than this short encyclopedia entry would allow. To be completely correct, I am not 'sure' that I am Taino, but I do know that I am descended of Cuban Indians, and that sort of makes Taino the most likely. I know a bunch about my European heritages, and even quite a bit about modern Cuba. But I now wish to know about these ancient inhabitants of those sun-washed islands, the land of my father's fathers. In short, my interest has been piqued. I would appreciate it if you could tell me where I can find resources that would help me. Please leave another message here if your interested, and we can figure something out. Bo'matum, KC Lopez == barbecue == It is claimed that the word 'barbecue' comes from the Tano language. If this is true, it would be a nice fact to add to the article. If it's not, it could be explained in the barbecue article... The Tainos used the word "barbacoa" when referring to an observation post built in the fields to watch the crops. It was made of wood and high enough to watch the fields. There is probably no relation to the modern barbecue. Carmen
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