History of the Taínos in the Dominican Republic III

The social organization of the Taínos who settled in the Dominican Republic was made up of the Naborías who was the lowest class, the Bohiques who represented religious beliefs, the Nitaínos who were the noble or high class and the cacique who was the maximum head of the village. In the productive part its main activities were agriculture, hunting and fishing.

The Agriculture

The main crops of the Taínos were cassava, corn, sweet potatoes, peanuts, tobacco, mamey, guava, pineapple, papaya or papaya, among other products.. Cassava was the main food and they prepared it in different ways, one of them was making dry bread or cassava through a dough that was then toasted on a burén (clay plate in which the bread or casabe was cooked).

The Taínos had techniques for the cultivation of their main agricultural productsYucas, ajes and sweet potatoes were sown in mounds of loose soil because it was considered that they developed better, while maize was sown under the roza system that consisted of burning the forest, letting it dry, sowing and harvesting. The Taínos called these planting places conuco.

Later, the Taínos began to build precarious irrigation systems or ditches that allowed them to sow in arid lands.

With the first rain cycles, the sowing of the main agricultural products began, In the case of corn, the full moon was expected because they considered that under those conditions a good harvest was guaranteed.

Among the main agricultural tools stood out the coa or pullón (wooden stick for digging) and the stone axes that they made from rocks of great consistency and a polished surface.

Hunting and Fishing

The main tools for hunting birds and mammals were the bow and arrowThey also used lancets, poison, hook, nets and numerous traps. Among the animals they hunted are now extinct birds, iguanas, alligators, snakes and rodents. As a domestic animal they had the mute dog or aon but it was also part of their diet because they consumed its meat.

As in hunting, the main tool for fishing was the bow and arrow, and they also used hooks and cotton nets. They caught fish and turtles, however, one of his favorite prey was the manatee, a rare species of mammal that feeds on riparian plants and inhabits shallow waters. To be continue…/