page_title: Chiefdoms of Hispaniola
section_title: Chiefdom of Jaragua
hierarchical_section_title: Chiefdoms of Hispaniola / Chiefdom of Jaragua
caption_attribution_description: Cacicazgo de Jaragua
context_page_description: The chiefdoms of Hispaniola were the primary political units employed by the Taíno inhabitants of Hispaniola 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 indigenous group, the Island Caribs. In 1508, there were about 60,000 Taínos in the island of Hispaniola; by 1531 infectious disease epidemics and exploitation had resulted in a dramatic decline in population.
  The boundaries of each cacicazgo were precise. The first inhabitants of the island used geographic elements as references, such as major rivers, high mountains, notable valleys and plains. This enabled them to define each territory. Each was divided into cacique nitaínos, subdivisions headed by the cacique helpers.
context_section_description: The cacicazgo of Jaragua spanned the entire south-west of the island of Hispaniola. It was bordered on the north by the cacicazgo of Marién, south by the Caribbean Sea, east by the cacicazgo of Maguana, and west by the Strait of Jamaica. It was ruled by the cacique Bohechio (Beehechio) and was the largest of the cacicazgos. Its center was located in a place called Guava, present-day Léogâne in Haiti. It was divided into 26 nitaínos. 
  Bohechío was the brother of Anacaona, who was married to the cacique of Maguana; Caonabo. As such, Jaragua and Maguana had a strong alliance and would partner to ward off and attack rival cacicazgos.
  The mother goddess of the cacicazgo was Zuimaco.
caption: Chiefdom of Jaragua
exif: {"Image Tag 0x5100": "0"}