Kazike
Kazike ( Spanish cacique ) is a name for indigenous leaders or nobles in Central and South America .
The word originally comes from the Taíno language common in the Caribbean . It is mentioned for the first time in writing in Christopher Columbus' log book of his first trip to the New World . The corresponding entry from December 17, 1492 reads:
"I saw one of them, the other cacique called, and I thought was the governor of the province, held a palm-sized gold leaf in hands and pretended he wanted to exchange it for something else."
The subsequent Spanish " explorers ", conquistadors and chroniclers adopted the term in a geographically broader context. Areas where a cacike ruled were called cacicazgo .
See also
Web links
Wiktionary: Kazike - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations
- Caciques. Lexicon entry on the website of the Latin America Institute of the Free University of Berlin