The Real Beginnings of Hispaniola

This is a brief story of the early days of “pre-Hispaniola”. Before Haiti, the country, was founded. Before the island was called “Hispaniola”. Before Columbus and Europe. I, Estevanico, am a descendant of a group of Indian tribes in North America. We are distantly related to the ancient Taino people. I am one of few descendants of a people who were wiped out thanks to the diseases of the Europeans. This is my people’s story. 

Before I begin, I must tell you that 1492 was not the beginning. We need to understand that there were a people with their own culture and way of living on the island before 1492. We in the Americas have gotten used to the European view of our “American” history. They tell us that Columbus discovered America in 1492, and we listen. We forget that most of the names we use to even describe the Caribbean are European names. One reason I stay away from calling the island “Hispaniola” in this story is because that name was given to the island by Columbus when he went there. Even the name “Indian” is a European mistake; Columbus used this word to describe the people in the my homelands, thinking he was in India. I tell this story from my viewpoint, not just the European one. 

Long Ago, in ancient days, my people, the Taino, came to what would be Hispaniola. They began to show up on the island over thousands of years, similar to how the first Native Americans showed up on the Americas over 12 to 13 thousand years or so, but somewhat more recently. I cannot really say just when the first of them came onto the island, but they came from the northern parts South America and began to gradually settle it. My ancestors had the most complex culture in what would be named the Caribbean Sea when the Europeans came. They had their own customs, religion, and even their own drugs. They also had their own story of how they began. 

A good bit of their culture came from our story of how we began. The short version of it is this: There was a god named Deminan. He is our father. There was a turtle, we call her Turtle Woman, and she is our mother. From them we descend. My ancestors paid homage to that in many ways. For example, we trace our family lines though our mother to honor Turtle Woman.

Why do more people not know more of my ancestors’ story? The European and his diseases wiped out all of my ancestors on their island, and many of their kin on the mainland. Now I will retell the story which more people have heard; the one about the European and his so-called “discovery” of my Taino ancestors’ island.

In December of 1492, the White man first set foot on my ancestors’ island. A group of Spaniards, led by the one they call Columbus, landed on the Northwest shore of the island. Columbus called the island Hispaniola, and that is what it has been called since. These invaders came and then left in 1493, but left some 38 of their group on the island. They set up a camp which they called “Navidad”. My ancestors killed those invaders, but that cursed invader Columbus came back that same year with about 1200 people and 17 ships. 

From the first “settlement” of their island by the White man on, my ancestors began to decline. More Europeans came onto their island, and began to take their gold and their provisions. These invaders tried to enslave my ancestors and force them to pay tribute to them, but my ancestors were too strong for those thieves! They fought back, but their fate was sealed. How many of my ancestors were there on that island when Columbus came? That may never be known; some say millions, and some say tens to hundreds of thousands. One thind is sure, though. By 1514, my ancestors numbered only about 26,000. By the 1520s, some 30 years after the Spaniards began exploiting my ancestors, my Taino descendants were headed toward extinction. 

The cruelty, greed, and diseases of those “settlers” killed my ancestors. They then began to take slaves from Africa to replace the muscle they needed to strip the valuable resources from “Hispaniola”. This is how Hispaniola began.

-Estevanico.

Thank you, Estevanico, for your story. Next week, we will hear from another guest about more of the history and the people of Hispaniola.

                                                           Sources list

"The Taino World." Ethneology.org. Ethneology, n.d., Web. 5 Aug. 2011.

McCann, Joseph M. "Before 1492: The Making of the Pre-Columbian Landscape. Part I: The Environment." Ecological Restoration 17.1&2 (1999): 17-19. PDF File.

Livi-Bacci, Massimo. "Return to Hispaniola: Reassessing a Demographic Catastrophe." HAHR (2011): 4-8. PDF File.