Taino cacique who rebelled against the Spaniards from 1519 to 1533
Enriquillo
, also known as "Enrique" by the Spaniards, was a
Taino
cacique
who rebelled against the Spaniards between 1519 and 1533. Enriquillo's rebellion is the best known rebellion of the early Caribbean period. He was born on the shores of Lake Jaragua (today
Lake Enriquillo
) and was part of the royal family of Jaragua. Enriquillo's aunt
Anacaona
was Queen of Jaragua, and his father Magiocatex was the crown prince. He is considered a hero in the modern day
Dominican Republic
for his resistance in favor of the indigenous peoples.
[1]
Dominican friar
Bartolome de las Casas
, who documented and rallied against Spanish abuse of the native peoples, wrote sympathetically of Enriquillo.
[2]
Early life
[
edit
]
Enriquillo was born on the shores of Lake Jaragua (currently
Lake Enriquillo
in
Dominican Republic
), around 1500.
[1]
He was a part of the Taino people, who had an advanced government, cultural traditions, and agricultural practices.
[3]
Good relations between
Christopher Columbus
and the indigenous Taino of the large island Columbus called
Hispaniola
did not last more than a few days. The Tainos were forced into terrible conditions as laborers in gold mining operations, badly housed in the mountains, poorly fed, extremely overworked, and forced to live in close quarters with the Spaniards.
[4]
Additionally, due to taking men away from the villages, the cycle of food production was disrupted, causing widespread malnutrition.
[4]
This malnutrition further aided the Tainos' vulnerability to deadly new types of diseases introduced by the foreigners.
[4]
After Columbus tortured and killed many in his quest for gold, he turned to slavery and
sugar cane
plantations
as a way to profit from his voyages.
Enriquillo's father, his aunt
Anacaona
, and eighty other regional chieftains were killed by
Nicolas de Ovando
while attending supposed "peace talks" with the Spanish in Jaragua.
[
citation needed
]
During the talks, Spanish soldiers ambushed the chieftains, also known as caciques, set the meeting house on fire, and then proceeded to kill anyone who fled the flames (causing his father's death). Enriquillo, an orphan, was later raised in a
Santo Domingo
monastery and given the name of "Enrico".
[5]
One of his mentors was
Bartolome de las Casas
. De las Casas was a Spanish Roman Catholic Priest focused on the rights of Native Americans.
[6]
Enriquillo owned a steed and could read and write Castilian. He was aware of his privileges or rights as a subject of the colony and was still recognized as a chief or nitaino by the other indigenous people. For this reason, he served as a foreman for the encomendero.
Enriquillo also had a wife, called Mencia, later with the noble title Dona due to Enriquillo's high standing and relations with the Spaniards. She was raped by a Spaniard named Valenzuela.
[
citation needed
]
When Enriquillo tried to take the issue to the Spanish courts, nothing could be done, since it was Dona Mencia's word against the Spaniard's word. This, according to some writers, was the tipping point for Enriquillo which led to his revolt in the Bahoruco mountains.
[
citation needed
]
Rebellion
[
edit
]
Several revolts followed in the first half of the 16th century; the most famous began in 1519. Enriquillo, one of the few remaining caciques, or indigenous chiefs, started the revolt with a large number of Tainos from the
mountain range of Bahoruco
. The Tainos were able to continue the rebellion because of their better knowledge of the region.
[1]
As the
Spaniards
were not able to control the rebellion, a treaty was signed granting to the Native population among others the right of
Freedom
and of
Possession
.
[
citation needed
]
It had little consequences, however, as by this time the Native population was rapidly declining due to European diseases.
Thirteen years of insurrection of the Bahoruco chieftain cost the Spanish monarchy more than 40,000 gold pesos. Assaults, fires, raids, death of Spaniards and a dangerous example for the slaves, who by the end of the 1520s numbered thousands in the southern part of the island, dedicated to the production of sugar cane. His style of fighting and the method that he applied of irregular warfare and his cunning, patience and prudence; the efficient information and supply service that he organized in the region, in the high mountains of the Sierra, made him feared by the
Spaniards
. A true military leader, a great captain, capable of facing and defeating the representatives of the most powerful nation in the world at that time. Their resistance forced the King of Spain to commission Francisco de Barrionuevo to put an end, by means of negotiation or force, to the long conflict that unsettled the colony.
Enrique del Bahoruco, as he was originally known, received Barrionuevo, in his first interview, bearing a letter from Carlos and, on Cabritos Island. Those agreements were never fully executed; the Cacique assumed a peaceful attitude from that moment on. He never came down from the mountains and although there is talk of a visit to Santo Domingo accompanied by his wife, nothing confirms that fact. By the success of his negotiations, he became the “Liberator of the Quisqueyanos”.
According to sources, the chief Enriquillo settled in the area that is today the province of
Monte Plata
, and lived in the town of Boya, now known as Sabana Grande de Boya, where he died. The tomb of the Liberator became a place of pilgrimage by the natives and for this reason the Spaniards decided to build the church of Agua Santa in the community of Boya in the Province of Monte Plata over his tomb, to dislocate the true place of the sanctuary of such a leader. It is also stated that the Cacique died around 1536 of about 40 years of age.
Guarocuya
[
edit
]
Most historians agree (see Sued Badillo and others) that Enriquillo was the same person as the cacique Guarocuya which would mean that Enriquillo belonged to the highest house of the Jaragua
cacicazgo
.
[7]
Guarocuya was the nephew of
Anacaona
, sister to the cacique of Jaragua
Bohechio
and his eventual successor once Bohechio was killed. Anacaona was married to
Caonabo
, who was the cacique of the neighboring Maguana kingdom. A minority of historians, however, claim that Guarocuya was captured and hanged, while Enriquillo succeeded in his revolt. Most historians believe both rebels were the same person, arguing that the tales of Guarocuya's demise are identical to the more verifiable accounts of the capture and execution of his aunt Anacaona.
[8]
It is also well documented that the character of Enriquillo was married to Mencia, the mestiza granddaughter of Anacaona.
His name, Enriquillo, would come after his baptism as a Catholic. The name Enriquillo, "little Enrique," was probably due to his age at the time of the baptism.
[
citation needed
]
Lake Enriquillo
[
edit
]
The salt water lake
Lake Enriquillo
in the Dominican province of
Baoruco
was named after him. Looking out over it is the
Trono de Enriquillo
, where he is said to have camped during the rebellion.
[9]
Legacy
[
edit
]
The highest rank of the
Asociacion de Scouts Dominicanos
was formerly named after him.
[
citation needed
]
A new
genus
of
lizard
,
Guarocuyus
, was described in 2022 from
Jaragua National Park
, and named in honor of Enriquillo's likely
Taino
name, Guarocuya.
[10]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
Altman, Ida (2007). "The Revolt of Enriquillo and the Historiography of Early Spanish America".
The Americas
.
63
(4): 587?614.
doi
:
10.1353/tam.2007.0052
.
JSTOR
4491300
.
S2CID
144301372
.
Project MUSE
214822
.
- ^
de Las Casas, Bartolome (1965).
Historia de las Indias
. Vol. 3. Frondo de Cultura Economica. p. 260.
OCLC
503991
.
- ^
Dennis, Yvonne Wakim; Hirschfelder, Arlene; Flynn, Shannon Rothenberger (2016). "Caquetio".
Native American Almanac: More Than 50,000 Years of the Cultures and Histories of Indigenous Peoples
. Visible Ink Press.
ISBN
978-1-57859-607-2
.
[
page needed
]
- ^
a
b
c
Wilson, Samuel M. (1997). "Surviving European conquest in the Caribbean".
Revista de Arqueologia Americana
(12): 141?160.
JSTOR
27768388
.
- ^
Uriona, Viviana (2009). "Enriquillo and the Taino revolt (1519-1533)".
The International Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest
. p. 1.
doi
:
10.1002/9781405198073.wbierp0515
.
ISBN
978-1-4051-9807-3
.
- ^
"Bartolome de Las Casas"
.
U-S-History.com
.
- ^
Ozuna, Ana (1 May 2018).
"Rebellion and Anti-colonial Struggle in Hispaniola: From Indigenous Agitators to African Rebels"
(PDF)
.
Journal of Pan African Studies
.
11
(7): 77?96.
Gale
A545067729
.
- ^
Martinez, Miguel Alfonso; Lockhart, Felix (31 December 1998). "Canada First Nations Back Taino Treaty".
Native Americas
.
15
(4): 7.
ProQuest
224759502
.
- ^
"Lago Enriquillo and Isla Cabritos - Dominican Republic Lake"
.
mydominicanvacation.com
. Retrieved
2019-02-27
.
[
self-published source?
]
- ^
"Descubren nueva especie y genero de lagarto en Parque Nacional Jaragua"
.
Diario Libre
(in Spanish). 29 December 2022
. Retrieved
2023-02-05
.
Further reading
[
edit
]
- Altman, Ida (2007). "The Revolt of Enriquillo and the Historiography of Early Spanish America".
The Americas
.
63
(4): 587?614.
doi
:
10.1353/tam.2007.0052
.
JSTOR
4491300
.
S2CID
144301372
.
Project MUSE
214822
.
- Sued Badillo, Jalil.
General History of the Caribbean Volume I: Autochthonous Societies
(English, Macmillan Caribbean, 2002)
- Van Der Helm, Rien.
Reis-handboek Dominicaanse Republiek
(Dutch language, Elmar, 1991)
External links
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]