History - Arawaks

Origins of the Arawaks

• A startling fact is that when Columbus arrived at Hispaniola there were no people who were called 'Arawaks', and there never had been. If you were to go to Santo Domingo today people would tell you that their Amerindian ancestors were the 'Taino'. Actually, Indians of the Greater Antilles did not call themselves 'Taino', no more than they called themselves 'Arawak' - that name was given them in 1935 by Sven Loven, a Swedish archaeologist, from the word denoting in the Indian lauguage the ruling class of their society.But let us not quibble: seeing as we do not know what the Greater Antilleans called themselves, we shall make do with Taino.
• Amerindians of the "Saladoid" culture, originally came from the Venezuelan mainland. They were referred to as "Arawaks", because of the language they spoke. Using Trinidad as a stepping stone they spread up the Caribbean and beyond. Ethnologist have noted common characteristics with the cultures of south eastern USA. For many years this led some to believe that they originated there, archaeological finds have confirmed that their origin is most certainly Amazonic.

• If the people of the Greater Antilles were not Arawaks, neither did they passively accept Spanish depradations. Most of us are familiar with the story of Hatuey, the chief who organized to fight the Spanish and who was, when captured, burnt at the stake. Repent and go to heaven, they told him as they lit the fire. If there are Spaniards in heaven I would rather go to hell, he replied. Nor was Hatuey the only defiant one. There were several others, men like Guarocuya (Enrique) in Hispaniola, Uroyoan in Borinquen (Puerto Rico) and Guama in Cuba, who confronted the strange, terrifying European weapons - the man-eating dogs, the guns, the mounted soldiers, the naval galleons - with great courage and determination.