Cacique Enrique's 1534 Letter

 

Whilst perusing PARES again, we came across the 1534 letter by Cacique Enrique online. Entitled Carta del [cacique] Enrique, indio, informando sobre la agrupación en pueblos de los indios y cimarrones de la provincia de Tierra Firme por parte del gobernador Francisco de Barrionuevo. It has been translated by Lynne A. Guitar in Cultural Genesis: Relationships among Indians, Africans, and Spaniards in Rural Hispaniola. To Guitar, it was essentially a letter of capitulation by Enrique and perhaps the only known document authored by a "Taino" person. Since the letter expresses Enrique's recognition of the imperial majesty of the Spanish king and its author promises peace and calm on the island, Guitar's description of it is apt. Whether or not Cacique Enrique actually wrote this is another question. As a literate person, however, he could have dictated it and read it to ensure it expressed his perspective. As such, it is one of the few written sources by an indigenous "Taino"from their perspective. It's unfortunate that more documents have not been uncovered yet. With the education that some caciques received (both in the Caribbean and Spain), one would think more documents might exist in Sevilla or other archives...