CAPE HISTORY Unit 1: Caribbean Slavery in the Atlantic World
Homework Exercise
Notes for Model responses:
Question 1. Examine the differences in the social and political structure in the pre-Columbian period of the Maya and Taino. 15 marks
Political organization
Lived in independent city-states. Had a rigid class system. Each class had its own duties and rights down to clothing and accessories. Each city state had a leader called a halach unich or ‘real man” – hereditary leader. Father to son. Brother of leader could be selected. Or the council of nobles can select successor.
Leader & Nobles were followed by farmers and artisans. Ppolms or merchants also existed. Merchants had their own gods. They had their own rules and did not pay taxes or do agricultural work or build roads. Performed role in foreign affairs and acted as spies in war.
Made possible trade between city states. Mayas carried on trade by sea and land- believed to have trades as far as Cuba and Jamaica.
Nobles wore a lot of jewellery over basic garment. Ear and nose rings and garment dyed in different colours. On ceremonial occasions noblemen decorated themselves with feathered head dresses made on wicker frames nearly as large as themselves. Only the leader and outstanding warriors were permitted to wear feathers of the quetzal bird in their head- dress.
Priest-astronomers- foretold the changes of weather and season.
Religion was one of the most important foundations of the Maya civilization. Called Temple-cities.
The Maya sacrificed war prisoners to the gods but many wars were fought with other Maya tribes. They sometimes fought to get land for agriculture or to get slaves.
Wealthy Noble built houses of stones. Commoner’s houses made of wattle and thatch.
Women responsible for caring for house and children. However they were responsible for much of the agricultural labour, mainly sowing, weeding and reaping. Women made the garments and head dresses for the nobles.
Women and girls considered inferior and socialized to accept this role. Women for example had to lower head and step aside if they encountered a man. They had to lower their gaze in the presence of a man. Women were not permitted to look directly at a man, or worse, to laugh at him as this was considered a serious misconduct which was severely punished. A mother might pinch her daughter, rub her eyes with red pepper or beat her it she failed to act “properly” towards a man.
No woman could inherit property. M en inherited everything.
No prisons existed in Maya society. Thieves were expected to work off the value of their theft.
Taino
Villages built around ceremonial plaza . Chief’s house built next to ball court. Well planned, highly organized villages. Each village ruled by headman. Province ruled by cacique. Headman ruled work of village, deciding when land should be prepared, crops planted and harvested. Surplus stored for distribution in the community. All work done communally. Commoners and slaves worked. Nobles supervised work.
Headman religious leader of the village also judge. Few laws. Most serious offence-theft.
Cacique had 2 roles. He was headman in his village but was top headman over the province. Ruled in consultation with nobles or nitaynos-decided who should go to war and when. Could levy land tax could be in form of agricultural goods or weapons. He could take it in the form of warriors. Cacique was all powerful. Inherited his position. But recognized matrilineal descent. Cacique might be female. Nobles inherited their positions. Commoners could not escape their class. Strong class structure.
Cacique had many privileges. Received part of the harvest for himself and his family. Special cassava cakes were made for him. His bohio was made for him by the village men. Larger than other homes. - Wattle and thatch.
Cacique and family Wore different types of ornaments from commoners.
Special transportation, special burial.
Question 2. For the Maya and Taino, explain the similarities and differences between their agricultural practices before their contact with the Europeans. 15 marks.
1. Taino - ate a great variety of fish mainly shellfish, grouper, snapper, grunt, jack, parrot, barracuda. Objects resembling fishing nets were found by archaeologists . Fish were bred in artificial ponds. Turtles were caught using the remora (sucker fish) to which the fisherman attached a line as it swam alongside the canoe. Birds were caught by nooses, snares, and nets. They caught water birds as well by making holes in calabashes or gourds and swimming slowly with it on their head. Hunting took place although there were no large animals. Coneys were hunted at nights using clubs and carrying torches. The giant lizard, the iguanas were caught by imitating their cries then stuffing their jaws to prevent defensive action, then plucking them off the trees. Yellow snakes and manatees were also hunted.
The women worked in rows, each woman carrying a bag of soaked grain around her neck. She made a hole with her digging stick, threw a few grains of corn into it with her left hand. They planted cassava (yucca or manioc). They use fish and ash fertilizer mixed with the soil to prolong its fertility. Arawaks are believed to have used an irrigation system as irrigation trenches have been found in Cuba and Hispaniola.
Some Arawak tribes were believed to have practiced a type of intensive type of agriculture which made it possible to support large villages. This technique was called the cunoco. This involved heaping soil into mounds in which a variety of plants were placed. E.g. In one mound cassava might be planted along with corn and climbing plants like beans. The mounds helped to reduce soil erosion.
Arawak agriculture suffered from inability to store food over an extended period. This hindered their ability to maintain very large populations, unlike groups like the Maya.
Some Arawak tribes practiced slash and burn agriculture which changed fields every few years and burning out new clearings twice a year when soil was damp and corn was planted on hillsides during the period of the new moon and after the start of the rains.
Children were involved in agriculture in that they were placed on platforms during the growing season to scare away birds.
Important crops were corn and cassava. Yam, beans, cotton and tobacco.
Maya:
Agriculture developed beyond subsistence farming. Strict regulations related to land ownership existed in Maya society. Land use was also regulated. They had careful plans for storage of surplus foods and distributed stored food during times of need. Land belonged to the whole tribe/clan as a gift from God.
Each married man and his wife were entitled to only 400 sq. ft. of land, called a Hun unic. Surplus grains or other non-perishable crops were collected and stored in storehouses called chultunes. There is no evidence that the Maya practiced irrigation.
Many gods had to do with farming or the weather.
The Maya had great watering holes formed by breaking away the limestone crust of rock and exposing the underground pools and streams underneath. Most Maya city state had two of these cenotes. One was used to supply water the other was used as a sacrificial well into which young girls were ceremonially thrown in order as the Maya thought, to bring rain.
Most of the Maya soldiers were not professional warriors, but farmers so they could not leave their home for long periods to fight wars. Sometimes they fought wars to gain land for agriculture.
They provided domestic water supply by damming and cementing ravines.
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