Anacaona
| Anacaona | |
|---|---|
| Born |
1474 |
| Died | c. 1503 Santo Domingo |
| Nationality | Taíno |
| Other names | Golden Flower |
| Occupation | Cacica |
| Known for | being the only known female Cacique (chief) |
| Spouse | Caonabo |
Anacaona (1474 – c. 1503), also called the Golden Flower, was a Taíno cacica (chief), sister of Bohechío, chief of Jaragua, and wife of Caonabo, chief of the nearby territory of Maguana, two of the five highest caciques who ruled the island of Haiti when the Spaniards settled there in 1492. She was celebrated as a composer of ballads and narrative poems, called areítos.
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[edit] Life
Anacaona was born in Yaguana (today the town of Léogane, Haiti) in 1474. During Christopher Columbus's visit to the chiefdom of Jaragua in what is now southwest Haiti in late 1496, Anacaona and her brother Bohechío appeared as equal negotiators. On that occasion, described by Bartolomé de las Casas in Historia de las Indias, Columbus successfully negotiated for tribute of food and cotton to be paid by the natives to the Spanish invaders under his command. The visit is described as having taken place in a friendly atmosphere. Several months later, Columbus arrived with a caravel to collect a part of the tribute. Anacaona and Behechío had sailed briefly aboard the caravel, near today's Port-au-Prince in the Gulf of Gonâve.
Anacaona's high status was probably strengthened by elements of matrilineal descent in the Taíno society, as described by Peter Martyr d'Anghiera. Taíno caciques usually passed inheritance to the eldest children of their sisters. When their sisters had no children, they chose among the children of their brothers, and when there were none, they fell back upon their own.
Anacaona had one child, named Higuemota, whose dates of birth and death are lost to history.
[edit] Arrest and Death
Anacaona became chief of Jaragua after her brothers death. Her husband Caonabo, suspected of having organized the attack on La Navidad (Spanish settlement on northern Haiti), was captured by Alonso de Ojeda and shipped to Spain, dying in a shipwreck during the journey. The Taínos, being ill-treated by the conquerors, revolted, and made a long war against them. During a feast organized by eight regional chieftains to honor Anacaona, who was friendly to the Spaniards, Spanish Governor Nicolás de Ovando ordered the meeting house set on fire. He arrested Anacaona and her Taíno noblemen, all of whom, being accused of conspiracy, were executed. While others were shot, Anacaona was executed by hanging. She was twenty-nine years old.
July 26, 2011
According to Edwidge Danticat's novel, Anacaona, Golden Flower, The Royal Diaries, ISBN 0-439-49906-2, Anacaona died in 1503 at the age of twenty-nine years old. See page 159.
[edit] Legacy
Her immortalization in the intertwining histories of both Haiti and the Dominican Republic have resulted in the use of her name for various places in both countries. Many in Haiti claim her as a significant icon in early Haitian history and consequently a primordial founder of their country. Renowned Haitian American author Edwidge Danticat wrote an award-winning novel in dedication to the fallen chief.
[edit] References
- Bartolomé de las Casas: A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies.
- Peter Martyr d'Anghiera: De Orbe Novo.
- Samuel M. Wilson: Hispaniola - Caribbean Chiefdoms in the Age of Columbus. The University of Alabama Press, 1990. ISBN 0817304622.
- This article incorporates text from the public domain Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography.
