Anacaona

Anacaona, (date of birth unknown - died about 1503, Hispaniola), also called the Golden Flower, was a Taíno queen, sister of Behechio and wife of Caonabo, two of the five highest caciques who possessed the island of Hispaniola when the Spaniards settled there in 1492. She was celebrated as a composer of ballads and narrative poems, called areytos.

During Bartolomé Colón's visit to the cacicazgo of Xaragua in late 1496, Anacaona and her brother Behechio appear as equal negotiators. On that occasion, described by Bartolomé de las Casas in Historia de las Indias, Colón successfully negotiated for tribute consisting 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, Colón 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 in the Gulf of Gonâve.

Anacaona's high status was probably strengthened by elements of matrilineal descent in the Taíno society, as described by Peter Martyr d'Anghiera. 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 became queen of Xaragua after her brother's death. Her husband Caonabo, suspected of having organised the attack on La Navidad (northern Haiti), was captured by Alonso de Hojeda and shipped to Spain, dying in a shipwreck during the journey. The Indians, being ill-treated by the conquerors, revolted, and made a long war against them; and during a feast organized to honor the queen of Xaragua, who was friendly to the Spaniards, Governor Nicolás de Ovando ordered the arrest of Anacaona and her Indian noblemen, all of whom, being accused of conspiracy, were executed.

Anacaona is revered in in both Haiti and the Dominican Republic, with nationalists on both sides claiming her as a primordial founder of their country.

Trivia

• Île de Anacaona, an island off Haiti's coast, is named after her. A major avenue in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, is named after her as well.
• Alfred Lord Tennyson wrote a poem entitled "Anacaona", set to music by Boris Blacher.
• Anacaona is the name of a Cuban all-girl band founded in the 1930s.
• Tite Curet Alonso wrote a song titled "Anacaona", performed by Cheo Feliciano.
• Anacaona is represented in the Heritage floor of The Dinner Party.

References

• Bartolomé de las Casas: A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies.
• Peter Martyr d'Anghiera: De Orbe Novo.
• Samuel M. Wilson: Hispaniola - Caribbean Chiefdoms in the Age of Columbus. The University of Alabama Press, 1990. ISBN 0817304622.

External links

• The Louverture Project: Anacaona

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Last updated on Monday January 28, 2008 at 10:32:52 PST (GMT -0800)
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