Cacicazgos in the Caribbean and the American Continent

Francisco Moscoso's Cacicazgos en el caribe y continente americano was something of a disappointment. We were hoping for a detailed comparative analysis of the cacicazgo among the Taino, Muisca and Nicarao but the chapters were too brief to flesh out a full analysis. This is no surprise, since the book was part of a chapter of a UNESCO General History of the Caribbean series. However, we still hoped for something new or deeper here. For those who have already read Moscoso's work on the Taino chiefdoms or his work on precolonial Nicaragua, this study basically restates the general proposition of the cacicazo as a state of political development somewhere between the tribe and the state. In general, all three of the highlighted indigenous civilizations here were somewhat similar in that all developed systems of tribute, caciques, some degree of stratification, and a form of production beyond that of bands. Assuming one shares his view on the historical stages of production societies undergo, Muisca, Nicarao and Taino are all similar. However, the Nicarao case does seem to be, in part, a product of ancient Mesoamerican migrations and cultural influences which might explain some of the features of the Nicarao civilization. Nonetheless, it is important to recognize and study the specific transitional state of development represented by the cacicazgo. As something akin to an incipient state, elucidating its origins could shed light on the process of state formation elsewhere. 

Marx and Engels in the Prehispanic Caribbean

Several years ago, a Puerto Rican specialist in 19th century Hispanic Caribbean "Indianist" literature recommended the works of Francisco Moscoso. He specifically mentioned that we must read Tribu y clases en el Caribe antiguo. Foolishly, we scanned parts of that important book but then lost the file. The next best thing was to locate the English-language dissertation that was the basis of the book. "The Development of Tribal Society in the Caribbean" contains the essential points of the later monograph and is far more accessible. Reading it was a challenging and provocative experience as Moscoso sought to refute or problematize earlier Marxist and historical materialist interpretations of the Taino past. 

Perhaps the excessively lengthy first two chapters could have been reduced to a single chapter, although one sees their importance later on for Moscoso's deconstruction of Engels, Marx, and Morgan on primitive, communal societies to early class societies. Despite his occasional quoting of Marx, Engels, Mao, and Lenin, Moscoso was a little less dogmatic than we initially expected. By the end of the dissertation, Moscoso has made quite explicit his conclusions regarding burgeoning class formation through the tribute taken from commoners for the benefit of caciques. With the aid of nitainos, or clanlords, and behqiues (shamans and magico-religious specialists), the cacique, or chief, oversaw production, determined military actions, received tribute, and established a "semi-theocratic" system in which cemis and religious practices were linked to the chiefdom. 

By rejecting ecological determinism and interpretations by Caribbean archaeologists or historians that ignored or downplayed elements of incipient class formation, Moscoso forcefully argues that the Taino chiefdoms represented a tribal-tributary mode of production en route to class society. The Taino past is charted from prehistoric hunter-gatherer bands in Venezuela to the various cultures and migrations from the South American littoral to the Greater Antilles. Over several millennia, agriculture, ceramics, seafaring, and differentiation of producers and non-producers culminated in the chiefdom. Using comparative data from other chiefdoms, Moscoso offers some possible explanations for the rise of the system while rejecting Engels on the rise of classes. Instead of slavery as the immediate successor to primitive communal bands, the tribal-tributary model was a more likely intermediate step which can be seen in the case of the Taino. The Taino system, to him, would have likely developed into a despotic-tributary state as found among some other indigenous societies of the Americas had it not been for the Spanish conquest. 

The specific evidence for the tributary system allegedly established by the caciques of the Greater Antilles can be traced in archaeology, religion, the encomienda system, and the Spanish chroniclers. Since Las Casas, Oviedo and early colonial sources mention the control of labor, storehouses, and the high status of caciques and nitainos who were not engaged in production, one can surmise that there was ample surplus among the polities for greater differentiation and division of labor. The caciques benefited the most from this process since they received a part of this surplus, monopolized higher quality cassava bread, dressed distinctly, and were, based on the encomienda system, presumably incorporated into it for their control of the labor of commoners. From the cacicazgo of Xaragua, for instance, we find evidence of the great wealth and accumulation of goods and power achieved by caciques on the eve of the Spanish conquest. Puerto Rico, through Agueybana as paramount chief, was said to have been similarly powerful. Since we are lacking sufficient information for islands other than Hispaniola and Puerto Rico, Moscoso admits to varying degrees of development of chiefdoms, possibly a dimension of Tainoness as a spectrum of cultures with shared elements. Certainly, the Spanish chroniclers saw a general shared culture in the Greater Antilles and chiefdoms across the region.

Additional evidence of the incipient formation of classes can be found in the ruling ideology of Taino society reflecting the superior status and wealth of the cacique. The areytos, for instance, usually recorded the gests and genealogies of chiefs, indicating that the most important history to the Taino was that of the ruling segment of society. The storage of cemis in the caney or house of the chief, and the role of the cacique as intermediary between a cemi and the community through cohoba rituals likewise reflects the role of the religion in buttressing political authority. Whether or not calling this semi-theocratic or by some other nomenclature is helpful is beyond us, but clearly religion, areytos, and even redistributive feasts came to justifying an order in which some exploited the labor of others, even without the existence of private property. Such a phenomenon was also noted for parts of precolonial Africa by the South African Marxist, Bernard Magubane. The Taino case appears to have been similar, although the Antillean cosmovision may have reflected certain South American perspectivist influences and beliefs not entirely encapsulated in a Marxist analysis. 

Overall, this unapologetic Marxist analysis of the Taino cacicazgo raises a number of fascinating questions on the nature of the "state" in the precolonial Caribbean and Caribbean societal formation. However, drawing upon other examples of indigenous societies in the Americas, such as the Iroquois and northern South American societies, raises a number of unanswerable or unknown issues. Were the ritual belts used by caciques, for example, also records of information, like wampum belts? Or, to draw from the classic 19th century histories, to what extent can Nau's claim of communal labor as tribute to the caciques of Hispaniola really be verified for, say, the Bahamas? Furthermore, more recent archaeologists seem to be less certain about the degree of centralization and the size of cacicazgos in Haiti and Puerto Rico. Is heterarchy, rather than hierarchy, what we should be looking for in the Antilles? If so, how does that challenge this Marxist analysis of the Antillean cacique?

Hispaniola: Caribbean Chiefdoms in the Age of Columbus

Although I was expecting a much lengthier tome on the Taino sociopolitical system before and during contact with Europeans, Wilson's Hispaniola: Caribbean Chiefdoms in the Age of Columbus is a good reminder and review of the 'ethnohistorical' sources on the indigenes of Hispaniola. As Wilson states in his conclusion, Hispaniola set the framework for European-Native relations throughout the Americas, so a keen understanding of the Arawak peoples and their decimation by European colonialism is important to study. Moreover, Wilson's text is a succinct overview of scholarship and writings on the Taino from the 1490s to the 1980s, providing archaeological and ethnohistorical sources in order to show the complexities of indigenous 'sociopolitical' systems on Hispaniola, the island of the Greater Antilles where the Taino polities were probably the most complex. From Columbus making contact on the northern coast of Hispaniola (modern Haiti) to the campaigns in the Vega Real, to the Adelantado's contact with Xaragua and the eventual subjugation of the entire island in a tribute system, it becomes quite clear that Hispaniola featured the most complex Taino societies, with larger villages, fine craft production of ritual goods (zemis and dujos, seemingly produced by women), and linguistic diversity.

Wilson also does an excellent job recreating Columbus's first and second voyages and how European perceptions of the Taino political system were filtered through early modern European notions of feudal kingship, Christianity, and gender norms (the practice of polygyny among the Taino elite and the alleged power of women caciques in Hispaniola & Puerto Rico certainly stood out, as well as women's general nudity). Moreover, the complexities of cacicazgos in Hispaniola from 1492 to the early 1500s are well detailed (though I would have liked more info about cacique Mayobanex and the peoples of Samana who were labelled 'cannibals' and ethnic diversity on the island). Likewise, what exactly happened with Behecchio and Anacaona was an interesting example of how some caciques were able to play off Spanish renegades to undermine the Adelantado (Columbus's brother, who represented Spanish 'rule' in Hispaniola) for a decade. The nuances of Taino inheritance among the elite also seems unclear, perhaps being a combination of patrilineal and matrilineal.

Unfortunately, we all know how the tale of indigenous peoples and political systems collapsed: disease, forced labor (for gold mining) that took cultivators away from their conucos (manioc cultivation as practiced by the Taino required constant maintenance and about a year for the crop to mature), population and food pressure to feed the growing European presence ravaged the indigenous population's autonomy and subsistence strategies. Even the strongest caciques fell over time, such as Guarionex, Anacaona, and Caonabo, due to Spanish treachery, warfare, and the killing of Taino elites. It's a shame the written sources are not detailed or sufficient enough to provide a clearer picture of how elite marriage structures and sociopolitical systems functioned (it seems like the caciques, even the strongest ones, were dominant firsts among equals rather than 'kings' or 'queens' in the European sense).

Also interesting for its relevance to European colonization in the Americas, Polynesia and parts of Africa, however, is the likely Taino perception of the Spanish as beings from the sky, as gods. Their vast caravels, horses, guns, metal weapons or tools and otherworldly appearance across the sea must have shaped Taino relations with the Spanish, just as it had done so in future decades with the Spanish conquest of the Aztecs in Mexico. If the European documents can be trusted, the capture of Caonabo as a result of tricking him with metal shackles (perceived as turey by the Taino, that is, objects from the sky or gods), demonstrates how early relations between the Taino and Europeans were shaped by the indigenous view of whites as supernatural beings, making outright war or resistance less likely.

Indeed, Wilson suggests that one of the reasons caciques like Behecchio and Anacaona may have hosted resplendent welcome feasts for the Adelantado and other Spanish leaders was due to their perceived godliness, which would explain the zemi rituals some caciques called for when visited by Europeans. The indigenous view of the bell (a bell in Isabela or one of the inland fortalezas) and other turey from Europe as divine objects clearly influenced trade relations, since the Europeans wanted gold (and later on, food) while the Taino were happy to take cheap objects of tin, thereby paving the way for an exploitative trade on unequal terms.

Last, but certainly not least, Wilson avoids providing a firm estimate for the number of people on Hispaniola in 1492, saying it was probably more than a million. Due to a number of reasons alluded to by Wilson, there is no way to arrive at an exact estimate, but what is known is the rapid decline of the Amerindian population by the 1520s. Hispaniola, as the center of Spanish expansion in the 'New World' from 1492 until the conquest of Mexico and the mainland, saw its indigenous population disappear by the middle of the 16th century and soon after, Spanish attention focused on more lucrative colonies in the hemisphere. It would seem that Anacaona and the cacicagzo of Xaragua (covering modern Haiti) was the last of the Taino sociopolitical systems to fall on the island, It's quite amazing to think how rapid the demographic decline of Hispaniola was under just a few decades of Spanish rule...