Hatuey
Hatuey (* in Hispaniola ; † February 2, 1512 in Yara , Cuba ) was a chief of the Taíno . He became the first inhabitants of the New World the resistance against the white colonial rule and was in favor of the Spanish conquistadors burned . He is therefore also called the "First Hero of the Cuban Nation".
In 1511 the Spanish conquistador Diego Velázquez sailed from Hispaniola (now the Dominican Republic and Haiti) to Cuba . However, he was preceded by the Taíno chief Hatuey, who fled with 400 other Indians from Hispaniola to Cuba to warn the indigenous people living there against the Spaniards and to take up the fight against the invaders with them.
The following speech is attributed to Hatuey, in which he is said to have shown the Cubans a piece of gold , by the Spanish priest Bartolomé de Las Casas , who was both in Hispaniola and later in Cuba and denounced the inhuman annihilation of the Indians by the Spanish conquerors :
“Here is the god the Spaniards worship. For this they fight and murder. For this god they persecute us and that's why we have to throw them into the sea ... These tyrants tell us that they worship a god of peace and equality and they take our land from us and make us slaves. They speak to us of an immortal soul and steal our belongings, seduce our women and rape our daughters. Since their courage does not match ours, these cowards hide under iron that our weapons cannot penetrate ... "
Most Cubans did not believe Hatuey, however, and few joined his struggle. Hatuey used guerrilla tactics and forced the Spaniards to retreat to their fort in Baracoa . Nevertheless, the Spaniards managed to catch Hatuey. They tied him to a stake and burned him alive.
Bartolomé de Las Casas reports firsthand as an eyewitness that Hatuey was urged by a priest to be baptized before his execution in order to go to heaven . Hatuey is said to have asked where the Christians would go after their death. When the priest then declared that all Christians would go to heaven if they were good, Hatuey is said to have replied that he did not want to go where the Spaniards are in order not to be with such cruel people.
The silhouette of Hatuey's head is now the trademark of the Cohiba cigar manufacturer from Cuba.
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ biography ( Spanish )
- ^ Lawrence A. Clayton: Bartolomé de Las Casas and the Conquest of the Americas. Wiley-Blackwell , Oxford et al. a. 2011, p. 45f.
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Hatuey |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Cuban freedom fighter |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 15th century |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Hispaniola |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 2, 1512 |
| Place of death | Yara , Cuba |