Anacaona

Anacaona (* 1464 in Yaguana , today a district of Leogane , Haiti ; † 1504 in Hispaniola ), also known as the "Golden Flower", was a queen of the Taíno people . She was the sister of Behechio and wife of Caonabo, chief of the nearby territory, who were two of the highest five caciks (chiefs) who ruled the island of Hispaniola when the Spanish settled here from 1492 . She was celebrated as a composer of ballads and poems called areytos .

Life

During Bartolomeo Columbus' visit to the Kingdom of Jaragua in southwestern Hispaniola late in 1496, Anacaona and her brother Behechio proved to be equal rulers. On this occasion, described by Bartolomé de las Casas in his Brief History of the Destruction of the Indian Islands , Columbus successfully took tribute , which would consist in food and cotton for the Spanish settlers under his command. The visit is said to have taken place in a peaceful atmosphere. A few months later, Columbus returned in a caravel to take part of the tribute. Anacaona and Behechio sailed close to the caravel, near the present port of Port-au-Prince in the Gulf of Gonave.

Anacaona's high rank was probably derived from elements of a matrilineal ancestry in Taino society, as described by Peter Martyr d'Anghiera. Taíno caciques usually bequeathed their wealth to the eldest children of their sisters. If there were no children of sisters, they chose from among the children of their brothers. Only when these did not exist did the fortune go to their own children.

Anacaona had a child, Higuemota, whose life data are unknown.

Arrest

Anacaona became Queen of Xaragua after the death of her brother. Her husband Caonabo, suspected of leading the attack on Columbus' first settlement La Navidad in northern Haiti, was captured by Alonso de Ojeda and taken to Spain, but was killed in a shipwreck during the voyage. The Taínos, mistreated by the colonialists, revolted and waged a long war against them. During a festival organized by eight local chiefs in honor of Anacaona, who was friendly to the Spanish, the Spanish governor Nicolás de Ovando ordered the festival house to be set on fire. He arrested Anacaona and her Taíno nobles and had them all executed for conspiracy. While the others were being shot, Anacaona was killed by hanging. She was 39 years old.

legacy

Anacaona is very revered in Haiti , and many consider her an icon and important person in Haiti's history, a founder of the nation in that sense. Her name became immortal due to the history of the two nations Haiti and Santo Domingo; different places bear their names. Well-known Haitian-American author Edwidge Danticat wrote an award-winning novella in memory of the murdered Taino Queen.

Trivia

In Havana , Cuba , there was a musical Castro family, whose eleven sisters founded a band specializing in the young musical style of Son called "Anacaona" in the early 1930s , in memory of the musical Queen of Taino. Seven of the musicians were successful for decades as the band "Anacaona" and from 1937 on they also came to Europe on their tours. Some of them are named after the famous film Buena Vista Sisters .

On the Dominican-Haitian border there is a small place called Villa Anacaona , on the part that crosses Haitian territory, between the places Restauración and Pedro Santana.

Judy Chicago honored her with one of the tiles on the Heritage Floor in her installation The Dinner Party .

Literature, references

Bartolomé de las Casas : "A Brief History of the Destruction of the Indian Islands"
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 .
Alicia Castro, “Anacaona”, Econ, 2002, ISBN 3430117526

Web links

The Louverture Project: Anacaona
Songs (salsa) about Anacaona (Cheo Feliciano and the Fania All Stars): Anacaona

Individual evidence

↑ Alicia Castro with Ingrid Kummels & Manfred Schäfer Anacaona. The Amazing Adventures of Cuba's First All-Girl Dance Band. London: Atlantic 2007 p. 149ff.

personal data
SURNAME	Anacaona
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Queen of the Taíno people
DATE OF BIRTH	1464
PLACE OF BIRTH	Yaguana , Haiti
DATE OF DEATH	1504
Place of death	Hispaniola

[1] Alicia Castro with Ingrid Kummels & Manfred Schäfer Anacaona. The Amazing Adventures of Cuba's First All-Girl Dance Band. London: Atlantic 2007 p. 149ff.