Arawak

The term Arawak (from aru, the Lokono word for cassava flour), was used to designate the Amerindians encountered by the Spanish in the West Indies. John Gabriel Stedman ( 1744 - 7 March 1797) was a distinguished British-Dutch Soldier and noted Author. The cassava, yuca, manioc, or mandioca ( Manihot esculenta) is a woody Shrub of the Euphorbiaceae (spurge family native For indigenous peoples in the United States other than Hawaii and Alaska see also Native Americans in the United States. Spain () or the Kingdom of Spain (Reino de España is a country located mostly in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. The Caribbean (ˌkærəˡbiən kæ'rəbiən Cariben|Caraïben or Caraïben; Caraïbe or more commonly Antilles; Caribe is a Region consisting These include the Taíno, who occupied the Greater Antilles and the Bahamas (Lucayan) and Bimini Florida, the Nepoya and Suppoyo of Trinidad and the Igneri, who were supposed to have preceded the Caribs in the Lesser Antilles, together with related groups (including the Lokono) which lived along the eastern coast of South America as far south as what is now Brazil. The Taínos were pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Bahamas, Greater Antilles, and the northern Lesser Antilles. The Greater Antilles is one of three island groups in the Caribbean. The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an independent sovereign English -speaking country consisting of two thousand Cays and The Lucayan were Arawakan People who inhabited the Bahamas at the time of Christopher Columbus ' landing on October 12, 1492. Bimini (ˈbɪmɨni is a district of the Bahamas composed of a chain of islands Trinidad ( Spanish: " Trinity " is the largest and most populous of the two major islands and The Igneri were a pre- Colombian Ethnic group that was once part of the Arawak tribe Cariban languages Carib, Island Carib or Kalinago people after whom the Caribbean Sea was named live in the Lesser Antilles islands The Lesser Antilles, also known as the Caribbees, are part of the Antilles, which together with the Bahamas and Greater Antilles form the South America is a Continent of the Americas, situated entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a |utc_offset = -2 to -4 |time_zone_DST = BRST |utc_offset_DST = -2 to -5 |cctld The group belongs to the Arawakan language family and they were the natives Christopher Columbus encountered when he first landed in the Americas. The Arawakan languages (also Arahuacan, Arawakanas, Arahuacano, Maipurean, Maipuran, Maipureano, Maipúrean Christopher Columbus (1451 &ndash May 20 1506 was an Italian Navigator, colonizer The Americas are the lands of the Western hemisphere or New World, consisting of the Continents of North America and South America The Spanish described them as a peaceful people.

1 Economy
2 Culture
3 Religion, government, foreign affairs
4 Population decline
5 Survivors
6 See also

Economy

On the islands of the Caribbean, the Taino very easily grew crops. They grew them in a conuco, a large mound devised for farming. They packed the conuco with leaves to prevent soil erosion and planted a large variety of crops to ensure that some of them would grow, whatever weather prevailed. Yuca (cassava) was a staple food, and grew easily in a tropical climate. The cassava, yuca, manioc, or mandioca ( Manihot esculenta) is a woody Shrub of the Euphorbiaceae (spurge family native They also grew maize. Maize (ˈmeɪz ( Zea mays L. ssp mays) known as corn in some countries is a cereal grain domesticated in Mesoamerica They used large, stable, slow boats to take goods for trade to the Mesoamerican civilizations and inter-island travel but used smaller, faster but less stable boats for intra-island shore travel. Mesoamerica or Meso-America (Mesoamérica is a Region extending approximately from central Mexico to Honduras and Nicaragua, defined

Culture

Since the agriculture and trade was so good, the Taíno had plenty of extra time to make crafts and play games. One of these games, called Batéy, was similar to soccer. Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a Team sport played between two teams of eleven players and is widely considered With plenty of leisure, the Taíno devoted their energy to creative activities such as pottery, basket weaving, cotton weaving, stone tools and even stone sculpture. Men and women painted their bodies and wore jewelry made of gold, stone, bone, and shell. Jewellery (also spelled jewelry, see spelling differences) is a personal Ornament, such as a necklace ring or bracelet made from Gemstones They also participated in informal feasts and dances. The Taíno drank alcohol made from fermented corn, and they used tobacco in cigars. Tobacco is an Agricultural product recognized as an addictive drug processed from the fresh Leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana.

The Taino developed the hammock (the name derives from the Taíno term hamaca), which was first encountered by Europeans on Hispaniola. The hammock is a fabric sling used for Sleeping or resting while suspended above ground Hispaniola (from Spanish, La Española) is the second-largest and most populous Island of the Antilles, lying between the islands of They were readily adopted as a convenient means to increase the crew capacity of ships and improved the sanitary conditions of the sleeping quarters; old straw — which was commonly used for bedding in earlier times — quickly became rotten and infested by parasites in the damp and cramped crew quarters of sailing ships. The cottoncloth hammocks could be easily washed if they became soiled.

Religion, government, foreign affairs

The Taino had organized systems of religion and government. They believed in good and evil spirits, which could inhabit human bodies and natural objects. They sought to control these spirits through their priests or shamans.

The Taino's political system was hierarchical, in which the islands were broken up into groups, each island in turn was divided into provinces ruled by chiefs known as caciques. The provinces were allocated into districts ruled by a sub-chief and each village was ruled by a head-man.

Their socio-political rivals within the Caribbean were the Caribs and the Ciboneys. Cariban languages Carib, Island Carib or Kalinago people after whom the Caribbean Sea was named live in the Lesser Antilles islands The Ciboney were Pre-Columbian indigenous inhabitants of the Greater Antilles in the Caribbean Sea. The Caribs were considered aggressive, while the Ciboneys were considered docile. The Taino used the Ciboney for slave labor. The Taino treated the peaceful Ciboney as a subjugated people, having already pushed them to the extreme fringes of their territory. The Carib were attempting to expand their territory in the Lesser Antilles, which entailed the ethnic cleansing of the Ciboney and Taino people, as the Caribs were known to torture and kill all non-Carib males, taking the females as slave-wives. The Lesser Antilles, also known as the Caribbees, are part of the Antilles, which together with the Bahamas and Greater Antilles form the

Population decline

Columbus, in his log, noted:

"They brought us balls of cotton thread and parrots and darts and other little things which it would be tedious to list, and exchanged everything for whatever we offered them. . . I kept my eyes open and tried to find out if there was any gold, and I saw that some of them had a little piece hanging from a hole in their nose. I gathered from their signs that if one goes south, or around the south side of the island, there is a king with great jars full of it, enormous amounts. I tried to persuade them to go there, but I saw that the idea was not to their liking. "

The main catalyst for Taino society's drastic decline was due to smallpox. Smallpox is an Infectious disease unique to humans caused by either of two virus variants named Variola major and Variola minor. Constant attacks by Carib tribes and harsh treatment by the Spaniards accelerated the process. Taino society collapsed, but their bloodlines became woven in with those of new settlers, mainly Europeans and Africans.

Survivors

Most scholars believe that of the Island populations of Ciboney, Taino and Carib, only the Carib survive today. On the mainland of South America there are some 2,450 (1980 census) Arawaks living in Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guyana with 2,051 in Suriname. The Caribs on mainland South America number 10,225 (2000 WCD) in Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guyana. The majority of the populations of Puerto Rico and Aruba are descended in part from the Arawaks — Taino in the case of the former. Puerto Rico (ˌpwertoˈriko officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ("Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico" {{lang-en|"Associated Free State of Puerto Rico"}} Aruba is a -long island of the Lesser Antilles in the southern Caribbean Sea, north of the Paraguaná Peninsula, Falcón State, Venezuela

Dictionary

-adjective

Pertaining to the Arawak peoples or their languages.

-proper noun

An Amerindian people who lived in the region of the Caribbean when the Spanish arrived in America.
A group of Amerindian languages spoken around the Caribbean.
A Caribbean language belonging to this group.

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