Chiefdoms of Hispaniola

The chiefdoms of Hispaniola (cacicazgo in Spanish) were the primary political units employed by the Taíno inhabitants of Hispaniola (Taíno: Ayiti, Quisqueya, or Bohio) in the early historical era. At the time of European contact in 1492, the island was divided into five chiefdoms or cacicazgos, each headed by a cacique or paramount chief. Below him were lesser caciques presiding over villages or districts and nitaínos, an elite class in Taíno society.

The Taíno of Hispaniola were an Arawak people related to the inhabitants of the other islands in the Greater Antilles. At the time of European contact, they were suffering attacks from a rival group, the Island Caribs. In 1508, there were about 60,000 Taínos in the island of Hispaniola, by 1531 exploitation and disease had reduced the number to 600.

The boundaries of each cacicazgo were clear and precise, the first inhabitants of the island in fact used the natural elements as references, such as major rivers, high mountains, notable valleys and plains. This made it possible to establish the extent of each territory. Each was divided into cacique nitaínos, subdivisions headed by the cacique helpers. The entries below relate the territory of each former cacique to the modern-day departments of Haiti and the provinces of the Dominican Republic.

The cacicazgo of Marién included the entire northwestern part of Hispaniola, bordered to the north by the Atlantic Ocean, the south by the cacicazgo of Jaragua, east by the cacicazgos of Maguá and Maguana, and west by the Windward Passage.

It was ruled by the cacique Guacanagaríx, with its capital located in El Guarico, near the present-day city of Cap-Haïtien. It was divided into 14 nitaínos. This cacicazgo was the first to welcome Christopher Columbus and to convert to Christianity.

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