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Anacaona (date of birth unknown – died about 1504, Hispaniola
Hispaniola

Hispaniola is the second-largest and most populous island of the Antilles, lying between the islands of Cuba to the west, and Puerto Rico to the east....
), also called the Golden Flower, was a Taíno
Taíno

The Ta?nos were Indigenous peoples of the Americas of the Bahamas, Greater Antilles, and the northern Lesser Antilles. It is believed that the seafaring Ta?nos were relatives of the Arawakan people of South America....
 chief, sister of Behechio and wife of Caonabo, two of the five highest cacique
Cacique

Cacique or Cazique from the ta?no word for the pre-Columbian tribal Tribal chief, of the Taino tribes in the Bahamas, Greater Antilles, and the northern Lesser Antilles....
s (chiefs) who possessed the island of Hispaniola when the Spaniard
Spanish people

Spanish people or Spaniards are a nation or ethnic group native to Spain, in the Iberian Peninsula of southwestern Europe. They are often considered an amalgam of different ethnic groups, rather than an ethnic group by itself....
s settled there
History of the Dominican Republic

The Dominican Republic occupies the eastern two-thirds of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antilles. Successive waves of Arawak migrants, moving northward from the Orinoco delta in South America, settled the islands of the Caribbean....
 in 1492. She was celebrated as a composer of ballads and narrative poems, called areytos.

ng Bartholomew Columbus's visit to the chiefdom of Xaragua
Jaraguá

Jaragu? is a small city and municipality in central Goi?s state, Brazil. It is a regional center and a producer of agricultural products, clothing, and cattle....
 in the southwest of Hispaniola (modern day Haiti
Haiti

Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Haitian Creole language- and French language-speaking Caribbean country. Along with the Dominican Republic, it occupies the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antilles archipelago....
) in late 1496, Anacaona and her brother Behechio appeared as equal negotiators.






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Anacaona (date of birth unknown – died about 1504, Hispaniola
Hispaniola

Hispaniola is the second-largest and most populous island of the Antilles, lying between the islands of Cuba to the west, and Puerto Rico to the east....
), also called the Golden Flower, was a Taíno
Taíno

The Ta?nos were Indigenous peoples of the Americas of the Bahamas, Greater Antilles, and the northern Lesser Antilles. It is believed that the seafaring Ta?nos were relatives of the Arawakan people of South America....
 chief, sister of Behechio and wife of Caonabo, two of the five highest cacique
Cacique

Cacique or Cazique from the ta?no word for the pre-Columbian tribal Tribal chief, of the Taino tribes in the Bahamas, Greater Antilles, and the northern Lesser Antilles....
s (chiefs) who possessed the island of Hispaniola when the Spaniard
Spanish people

Spanish people or Spaniards are a nation or ethnic group native to Spain, in the Iberian Peninsula of southwestern Europe. They are often considered an amalgam of different ethnic groups, rather than an ethnic group by itself....
s settled there
History of the Dominican Republic

The Dominican Republic occupies the eastern two-thirds of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antilles. Successive waves of Arawak migrants, moving northward from the Orinoco delta in South America, settled the islands of the Caribbean....
 in 1492. She was celebrated as a composer of ballads and narrative poems, called areytos.

Life

During Bartholomew Columbus's visit to the chiefdom of Xaragua
Jaraguá

Jaragu? is a small city and municipality in central Goi?s state, Brazil. It is a regional center and a producer of agricultural products, clothing, and cattle....
 in the southwest of Hispaniola (modern day Haiti
Haiti

Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Haitian Creole language- and French language-speaking Caribbean country. Along with the Dominican Republic, it occupies the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antilles archipelago....
) in late 1496, Anacaona and her brother Behechio appeared as equal negotiators. On that occasion, described by Bartolomé de las Casas
Bartolomé de Las Casas

File:Bartolomedelascasas.jpgBartolom? de las Casas, Dominican Order , was a 16th-century Spanish Empire Dominican Order priest, and the first resident Bishop of Chiapas....
 in Historia de las Indias, Columbus successfully negotiated for tribute
Tribute

A tribute is wealth one party gives to another as a sign of respect or, as was often case in historical contexts, of submission or allegiance....
 that consisted of food and cotton for the struggling Spanish settlers 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 Behechio had sailed briefly aboard the caravel, near today's Port-au-Prince
Port-au-Prince

Port-au-Prince is the Capital and largest List of cities in Haiti of Haiti. Growth, especially in crowded slums in nearby plains and hillsides, has raised the population of the Port-au-Prince area to between 2.5 and 3 million....
 in the Gulf of Gonâve
Gulf of Gonâve

Gulf of Gon?ve is a large gulf along the western coast of Haiti, at . Haiti's capital city, Port-au-Prince, is located on the coast of the gulf....
.

Anacaona's high status was probably strengthened by elements of matrilineal
Matrilineality

Matrilineality is a system in which lineage is traced through the mother and maternal ancestors.A matriline is a line of descent from a female ancestor to a Kinship in which the individuals in all intervening generations are female....
 descent in the Taíno society, as described by Peter Martyr d'Anghiera
Peter Martyr d'Anghiera

Peter Martyr d'Anghiera was an Italy-born historian of Spain and of the discoveries of her representatives during the Age of Exploration. He wrote the first accounts of explorations in Central America and South America in a series of letters and reports, grouped in the original Latin publications of 1511 to 1530 into sets of ten chapters...
. Taíno caciques usually passed inheritance to the eldest children of their sisters. When there were no children of their sisters, they chose amongst those of their brothers, and failing these, they fell back upon their own.

Anacaona had one child, named Higuamota, whose date of death and date of birth are both unknown.

Arrest

Anacaona became queen of Xaragua after her brother's death. Her husband Caonabo, suspected of having organised the attack on La Navidad
La Navidad

La Navidad was a settlement that Christopher Columbus and his men established in present day Haiti in 1492 from the remains of the Spanish Ship, the Santa Mar?a ....
 (Spanish settlement on northern Haiti), was captured by Alonso de Ojeda
Alonso de Ojeda

Alonso de Ojeda was a Spanish people explorer born of noble parentage in Cuenca. His name is sometimes spelled Alonzo and Oxeda.He came from an impoverished noble family, but had the good fortune to start his career in the household of the Duke of Medinaceli....
 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
Nicolás de Ovando

Fray Nicol?s de Ovando y C?ceres was a Spain soldier from a noble family and a Knight of the Order of Alc?ntara. He was Governor of the Indies from 1502 until 1509....
 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 instead hanged at the age of 29.

Legacy

Anacaona is very much revered in Haiti
Haiti

Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Haitian Creole language- and French language-speaking Caribbean country. Along with the Dominican Republic, it occupies the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antilles archipelago....
, with many claiming her to be a significant icon in early Haitian history and consequently a primordial founder of their country. Immortalized in the intertwining histories of both Haiti and the Dominican Republic have resulted in various places in both countries bearing her name. Renowned Haitian American author
Author

An author is defined both as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created....
 Edwidge Danticat
Edwidge Danticat

Edwidge Danticat is a Haitian American author....
 wrote an award-winning novel in dedication to the befallen chief.

External links

  • The Louverture Project: