Assignment

Writing a historical narrative of the Tainos.  You are going to pretend that you are a historian summoned to write the true history of the natives of the Caribbean  from their perspective ( in other words the history that has not been told) to dispell the myths purpertrated of the so called “discovery”).  Also see video clip link  on 500 Nations: https://youtu.be/bY9OU7kuaD0

Bartolome de las Casas,

Chapter 1: Columbus, The Indians, and Human Progress” begins with a journal entry by Bartolome de las Casas, a young priest, who participated in

the conquest of Cuba.

Thus husbands and wives were together only once every eight or ten months and when they met they were so exhausted and depressed on both sides … they ceased to procreate. As for the newly born, they died early because their mothers, overworked and famished, had no milk to nurse them, and for this reason, while I was in Cuba, 7000 children died in three months. Some mothers even drowned their babies from sheer desperation….in this way, husbands died in the mines, wives died at work, and children died from lack of milk … and in a short time this land which was so great, so powerful and fertile … was depopulated…. My eyes have seen these acts so foreign to human nature, and now I tremble as I write….

When he arrived on Hispaniola in 1508, Las Casas says, “there were 60,000 people living on this island, 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? I myself writing it as a knowledgeable eyewitness can hardly believe it….”

Thus began the history, five hundred years ago, of the European invasion of the Indian settlements in the Americas. That beginning, when you read Las Casas—even if his figures are exaggerations (were there 3 million Indians to begin with, as he says, or less than a million, as some historians have calculated, or 8 million as others now believe?)—is conquest, slavery, death. When we read the history books given to children in the United States, it all starts with heroic adventure—there is no bloodshed—and Columbus Day is a celebration.

Youtube video on Howard Zinn and Bartolome de las Casas:

THE TAINOS OF THE CARIBBEAN

TERRITORY OF THE TAINOS

Tainos-Arawak speaking people from South America

SOCIETAL STRUCTURE

Cacique/Cacica –Chief (could be male/female) The chief ruled over his “cacicazcos” (chiefdoms) lived in the “caney”- retangular house
Naborias- farmers and workers; NiTainos -warrior class ; Bohite – medicine person
YUCAYEQUE -village of the Tainos with their houses they called “bohios” (cone shaped houses)

Main Staple- YUCA & CASABE

TAINO YUCAYEQUES (Villages)

TAINO HOMES-CANEY AND BOHIOS

TAINO POTTERY AND ART

“BATEY”-CEREMONIAL BALL COURTS
T

The Tainos worked hard, but also enjoyed themselves with game called “Batu”. The caciques of other regions will come with people at the “batey” and engaged in games.

“AREITO”- CEREMONIAL RITES

TAINO RELIGION

TAINO INSTRUMENTS & TOOLS

13

TAINOS SYMBOLS & ARTIFACTS

Agueybana greets Columbus:
Europeans genocide of First people

https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/A_Short_Account_of_the_Destruction_of_the_Indies

The Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies- by Bartolome de las Casa
Bartolome de las Casas reports to the King of Spain the atrocities ( today would be classified as crimes against humanity and would render Spanish colonizers as war criminals) committed against the Taino population.
The massive exploitation of Tainos as workers for the digging of gold;
He gives extensive details how the torture and massacre was committed against all: children, women the elderly and Taino man;
Revealed the mass reduction of the native population in short period of time;
Yet the King of Spain response to restoring the exploitation of humans as a labor force for further gold exploration was to transport African slaves.
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/A_Short_Account_of_the_Destruction_of_the_Indies

Howard Zinn on Columbus
Howard Zinn reveals content of Columbus’ diaries: Columbus describe the Tainos and revealed his ill intent in the diaries by stating:
“They willingly traded everything they owned… . They were well-built, with good bodies and handsome features…. They do not bear arms, and do not know them, for I showed them a sword, they took it by the edge and cut themselves out of ignorance. They have no iron. Their spears are made of cane… . They would make fine servants…. With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want.”

https://www.howardzinn.org/columbus-lens-of-history/
https://historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/zinncol1.html

The People vs. Columbus, et al.

https://historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/zinncol1.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Dr_Qqja4RY
500 Nations-The story of Indian Americans Part I
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOfEAbNiKFM&feature=related
http://youtu.be/TJ4VkfOJLy8ature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=As01jVTvLVI