ANACAONA

'Anacaona', (date of birth unknown - died about 1503, Haiti), also called the Golden Flower, was an Indian queen, sister of Behechio and wife of Caonabo, two of the five Taíno Arawak caciques who possessed the island of Hispaniola when the Spaniards settled there in 1492. She was celebrated as a composer of ballads and narrative poems, called ''areitos''.
Anacaona became queen of Xaragua after her brother's death. Her husband Caonabo was captured and shipped to Spain, but died in a shipwreck during the journey. The Indians, being ill-treated by the conquerors, revolted, and made a long war against them; and during a feast organized to honor the queen of Xaragua, who was friendly to the Spaniards, Governor Nicolás de Ovando ordered the arrest of Anacaona and her Indian noblemen, all of whom, being accused of conspiracy, were executed.
The Taíno queen is revered in Haiti even having an island named after her. Along with ex-slave revolutionaries Toussaint Louverture and Jean-Jacques Dessalines, she is considered a founder of the country.

Contents

Trivia

References

Trivia

★ Île de Anacaona, an island off Haiti's coast, is named after her.

★ Alfred Lord Tennyson wrote a poem entitled "Anacaona", set to music by Boris Blacher.

★ Anacaona is the name of a Cuban all-girl band founded in the 1930s.

★ Tite Curet Alonso wrote a song titled "Anacaona", performed by Cheo Feliciano.

★ Anacaona is a genus of the plant family Cucurbitaceae.

★ Anacaona is represented in the Heritage floor of The Dinner Party.

References

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★ Bartolomé de las Casas: A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies.

★ Peter Martyr d'Anghiera: De Orbe Novo.