Haiti Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===Taino history=== [[File:Copia de Cacicazgos de la Hispaniola.png|thumb|upright=1.6|The five [[cacique]]doms of Hispaniola at the time of the arrival of Christopher Columbus]] The island of [[Hispaniola]], of which Haiti occupies the western three-eighths,<ref name="Dardik" /><ref name="Current Affairs" /> has been inhabited since about 5000 BC by groups of Native Americans thought to have arrived from Central or South America.<ref name="Encylopedia Britannica - Haiti">[https://www.britannica.com/place/Haiti "Haiti"]</ref> Genetic studies show that some of these groups were related to the [[Yanomami]] of the [[Amazon Basin]].<ref name="national-geographic">{{cite news |last1=Lawler |first1=Andrew |title=Invaders nearly wiped out Caribbean's first people long before Spanish came, DNA reveals |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/2020/12/invaders-nearly-wiped-out-caribbeans-first-people-long-before-spanish-came-dna-reveals/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201223160603/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/2020/12/invaders-nearly-wiped-out-caribbeans-first-people-long-before-spanish-came-dna-reveals/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=23 December 2020 |work=National Geographic |date=23 December 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=LALUEZA-FOX |first1=C.|last2=CALDERÓN|first2=F. LUNA|date=2001|title=MtDNA from extinct Tainos and the peopling of the Caribbean|journal=Annals of Human Genetics|volume=2001|issue=65|pages=137–151|doi=10.1046/j.1469-1809.2001.6520137.x|s2cid=221450280|doi-access=free}}</ref> Amongst these early settlers were the [[Ciboney]] peoples, followed by the [[Taíno people|Taíno]], speakers of an [[Arawakan]] [[Taíno language|language]], elements of which have been preserved in [[Haitian Creole]]. The Taíno name for the entire island was ''Haiti'', or alternatively ''Quisqeya''.<ref name="Bradt9">Clammer, Paul (2016), ''Bradt Travel Guide – Haiti'', p. 9.</ref>{{Main|Chiefdoms of Hispaniola}}In Taíno society the largest unit of political organization was led by a ''[[cacique]]'', or chief, as the Europeans understood them. The island of Hispaniola was divided among five 'caciquedoms': the Magua in the north east, the Marien in the north west, the Jaragua in the south west, the Maguana in the central regions of Cibao, and the Higüey in the south east.<ref>{{cite book|last=Cassá |first= Roberto |title=Los Indios de Las Antillas|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oJ-wJ49cNwAC&pg=PA126|year=1992|publisher=Editorial Abya Yala|isbn=978-84-7100-375-1|pages=126–}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=Samuel M.|last=Wilson|year=1990|title=Hispaniola: Caribbean Chiefdoms in the Age of Columbus|publisher=University of Alabama Press|page=110|isbn=978-0-8173-0462-1}}</ref> Taíno cultural artifacts include [[cave paintings]] in several locations in the country. These have become national symbols of Haiti and tourist attractions. Modern-day [[Léogâne]], started as a French colonial town in the southwest, is beside the former capital of the caciquedom of ''Xaragua.''<ref name="royal">{{cite journal|url=http://www.millersville.edu/~columbus/data/ant/ROYAL-01.ANT|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090216092556/http://www.millersville.edu/~columbus/data/ant/ROYAL-01.ANT|archive-date= 16 February 2009|title=1492 and Multiculturalism|last=Royal |first= Robert |journal=The Intercollegiate Review|date=Spring 1992|volume=27|issue=2|pages=3–10}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page