Anacaona: Woman Chief
Every year we celebrate Christopher Columbus for a mistake
that he made which led to the enslavement of many indigenous people. Kreyolicious.com explains how when he landed
in Haiti he was welcomed by the men and women of the island, when he departed
he took unknown flora and fauna along with gold back to Spain. However, when he
left he did not take all the men who had traveled with him. The men who were
left in this tropical place began to take over the island. This leads me to our
hero and ultimate woman warrior before it was cool, Anacaona.
Anacaona, meaning “golden flower” was the sister of Bohecio,
Xaragua territory chief, and wife of the Maguana territory chief, Caonabo. In
addition to her roles as a leader and diplomat, Anacaona was also claimed to be very beautiful and skilled at creating songs, poems and dances. Now as
most island visitors soon called conquerors Columbus and his people began as
kind but as the enslaving began the relationship began to turn. When Anacaona’s
brother died, she succeeded him, and when her husband was captured by
Columbus’s men and sent to Spain as a slave, she succeeded him, too.
According to the Modern Notion despite the swift loss of both her husband and her brother
Anacaona worked with her oppressors to ensure her peoples safety. She was
vigilant and shared her kindness and generosity with the Spaniards only to be deceived.
Nicolás de Ovando, the new Spanish governor, saw Anacaona as a threat and
thought she must have some secret plot to overthrow him. In an attempt at to
rid himself of the perseved threat and gain control over the entire island,
Ovando rounded up the area’s lesser chiefs and locked them in a building,
which he then ordered to be set on fire, burning them alive. Anacaona was
spared this, because he planned it during a feast she had thrown him, and was
brought up on false charges.
As if it wasn’t enough for them to take over her entire
island and kill all the chiefs before executing her they offered her two other
options….that’s right you guessed it wife or concubine.
Now the story of Anacaona lives on as she has inspired
many works. She holds true still as a fearless, dignified Caribbean icon and
symbol of resistance against tyranny. There is an island in her name and an
statue in her honor.
I believe that
Anacaona is a prime example of a warrior woman. She fought to protect her
people in a non-violent way. She didn’t allow for the death of her brother and
enslavement of her husband keep her from accomplishing what needed to be done.
Works Cited
Anacaona. N.p., n.d. Web.
"Anacaona: The Woman Chief Who Stood Up to Christopher Columbus." Modern Notion. N.p., 11 Mar. 2015. Web.
"Haiti History 101: Guacanagaric, Anacaona, Caonabo, The First Haitians, Part 2." Kreyolicious.com. N.p., 30 Jan. 2014. Web.
The Haitian devastation is truly an understated tragedy. The nation's continual celebration of a man who performed such terrible acts is an ugly thing; his feats of exploration may be undeniable, but they are no justification for washing away the horrors coupled directly to their exercise.
ReplyDeleteAnacaona seems like an interesting figure, and her depiction armed with a figure is intriguing. She must have been tough to survive the conditions of her conquest, and to succeed two others (while carrying the weight of their deaths), although I was kinda missing the end of her story. What happened to her? Did she become a wife and concubine, what became of her efforts to safekeep her people?