Jamaica’s first known inhabitants were a peaceful people called Taino. They were a subgroup of the Arawak speaking American Indians. With bronze complexion, the Tainos were of average stature and with flowing dark coarse hair. Their eyes were on the large side, dark with a slight slant. It is believed that the first wave of Tainos arrived in Jamaica around 650 AD and a second wave arrived between 850 and 900 AD. It is, however, estimated that human habitation of the Caribbean Islands goes back more than 20,000 years. The Tainos’ Arawak name for Jamaica was Xaymaca, which meant “land of wood and water”. The Spanish later substituted a J for the X at the beginning of the word.
The Arawak Indians were natives of the northeast region of South America. Another subgroup of the Arawaks was the warlike Carib. Both groups migrated from South America, through the Lesser Antilles, into Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic), Cuba and Jamaica. They encountered the Ciboney (meaning rock dwellers) on Hispaniola and Cuba. There is no evidence that the Ciboney inhabited Jamaica. The Caribs often invaded Taino settlements enslaving them and using their bodies for ceremonies, which involved cannibalism.
Our knowledge of Taino history came primarily from Spanish explorers, who were seeking territories for Spain. During Christopher Columbus’ second voyage to the Caribbean in 1494, he landed on Jamaica and encountered the Taino Indians. Before the arrival of the Spanish, the Tainos experienced a settled existence. On Jamaica, they co-existed with the Caribs. Tainos lived in clans across the island. A chief or cacique governed each clan. The society was divided into three social classes - work class, sub-chiefs and noblemen. Noblemen included the medicine men, priests and chief; who led the affairs of the village. The Tainos lived in unions of one man and one woman, only the caciques may have up to twenty wives.
Tainos’ clothing was minimal. Married women wore an apron to cover their genitals, made of cotton or palm fibres. Single women went naked and men wore loincloth, or went naked. Tainos wore earrings, nose rings and necklaces, and painted their bodies to celebrate special
Historians have also learnt about the Tainos from artefacts found across the island, particularly in coastal areas. The Arawak Indian Museum at White Marl in St. Catherine, near Central Village, houses various vessels and tools made by the Tainos. Living mainly on the coast the Tainos were expert at fishing, navigating the sea and canoe building.
Work was divided between men and women. Mothers and grandmothers were responsible for nurturing, fieldwork, food preparation, weaving and pottery making. Men were responsible for tool making, hunting, fishing, main hut building and heavy clearing of the land. The Tainos cultivated cassava, maize and sweet potato, and hunted wild boar. They were the inventors of the hammock, which was made of cotton cloth and strings. They lived in round huts, constructed of wooden frames and covered with straw. Caciques lived in rectangular huts, built in the same manner. The huts all had earthen floor.
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