The period Pané covers is short span, from 1494 to 1498; it is restricted to a defined area, the island of Hispaniola – which is presently divided in the Dominican Republic and Haiti – and focuses on recording the lives and beliefs of the Taíno people. Columbus dubbed these and other peoples of the New World ‘Indians’, and unlike their North American counterparts (which are now more fairly and politically correct referred to as Native Americans) we still call them indigenous people. Although it was already known by the end of th

The author makes a distinction between piracy, privateering and warfare, her primary focus bases on the repercussions these forms of maritime predation had on the Spanish Empire. One interesting feature is how individual personalities are introduced, we are presented with insight about several well-known pirates which were the rulers of the seas at their times, this is true about Francis Drake, Piet Heyn, and Henry Morgan.

Pirate social structure in its own was a little more complicated because of the difficulty in making sound distinctions between the classes. The pirates were mainly runaway men that included criminals, refugees and escaped slaves who saw no point in returning to their native lands. The problem when classifying them arises in that social background was not a major issue, at least it was not as important as social distinction. The men who proved to be the bravest, most courageous and stole the most were the most admired and revered among their pirate peers. Social movement was quite simple in Pirate ‘society’, many escaped slaves worked the ranks and became prominent and dominant pirate captains because of the fact that they were good thieves. This does not mean in any way that they were all seen as equals amongst each other. the Europeans were the higher regarded class, they were the more skilled at warfare and experienced sailors.

Toward the end of the fifteenth century, the island of Hispaniola was divided into five regions or cacicazgos, which were in turned governed or ruled by an ultimate higher authority, the cacique. The cacique occupied the highest level of the social pyramid, he was the chief. Each cacizazgo in turn was divided into smaller regions called nitahinatos and these were ruled by the nitaínos. This position was highly proleged as well, they were only accountable to the cacique himself. Next in line in the social pyramid was the behique, his position was also worthy of town dignity and respect; his functions included organizing worship cult, communicating and passing own tribal tradition, and healing the sick. This was a very important role in Taíno village life because he served as head of ‘church’ and curandero. The working class, the naborias, were in charge of hunting, fishing and the growing of crops.

Piracy has always been a fascinating subject to generations during and following its period, while many have suffered the imposition of pirates as a group of misfits and fun-loving criminal

Some topics in this essay:
Morgan Taíno, Spanish Empire, Kris Lane, Native Americans, Fray Pané’s, Maquetaurie Taíno, Language Admiral”, Nonetheless Lane, Andrés Bello, Antilles Dutch, beliefs taíno, taíno people, social structure, beliefs taíno people, social pyramid, traditions customs, peoples world, colonial latin, taíno social, taíno social structure, latin american, island hispaniola,