Whilst perusing Arranz Marquez's Repartimientos y encomiendas en la Isla Española: El repartimiento de Albuquerque de 1514, we saw yet another cacique from the western part of the island whose community was forced to serve encomenderos in what is now the Dominican Republic. According to Peter Martyr d'Anghiera, Habacoa was a district or canton in Guacayarima (the southwestern part of Haiti). Thus, the cacique, Catalina de Habacoa, whose 44 Indians were forced to work to 2 Spaniards in Higuey, likely had to travel from one end of the island to another. This obviously meant that many indigenous peoples were forcibly relocated from the area they called home before 1492, and this likely contributed to the high mortality rates of the native population as they resisted, succumbed to hunger, or experienced disease and horrendous working conditions.
No comments:
Post a Comment