![]() Condors are rare in the South American Orinoco river valley where the Arawakan ancestors of the Caribbean Natives came from, and do not exist at all in the Caribbean region. Condors are birds which are abundant in the Andes mountains and very significant to Andean Indigenous iconography. These Huecoid pendants obviously represent Andean condors. The Huecoids were most probably descended from people who had emigrated into the Caribbean from the South American Andes mountains, the home of the ancient Incas, instead of the South American Orinoco river valley where the more numerous Arawakans of the Caribbean region originated. ![]() In certain sites of the Boriken archipelago (Puerto Rico) stone pendants have been discovered which were sculpted by Native people belonging to a culture known to researchers as Huecoids. There is also artistic evidence that the ancient Caribbean Indigenous people knew of the existence of certain living beings that were neither native to the islands nor kept in captivity by the Natives but were conspicuously abundant on the South American mainland. Furthermore the island environment probably was not appropriate to support viable populations of many of these foreign animals so the only place where a great deal of these alien animals could be found was as captive pets or captive food stock in the Native villages. Many of these animals did not come to the Caribbean region in large enough or varied enough numbers to run off and become wild communities in the island forests. ![]() ![]() The evidence exists that those ancient ancestors appear to have traded in animal and bird parts such as feathers, bones and teeth as well as the whole creatures themselves, alive and dead. Obviously, dogs were not the only animals brought to our islands. They were brought there from Central and South America by the Arawakans themselves in their canoes. Dogs are not native to the Caribbean islands. This was clear and observable to the early Spanish chroniclers.Ĭlear proof that animals which were not native to the Caribbean islands were carried there alive by our Arawakan ancestors is the fact that upon the arrival of the Spanish, these colonizers found lots of pet dogs living in the Taino villages. There was a perfectly discernible trade in parrots and other animals between the islands and the mainland as well as between the islands themselves. The ancient Tainos and all of their ancestors were adept sailors with large sea-going canoes which the historical record proves, were extremely capable of carrying living beings, including food animals, trade animals and pets. Why would our ancestors image or hold sacred a living thing that they could not see and was not native to their homeland?Īctually there is a glaring flaw in that kind of thinking. As I already mentioned, this assumption seems to make sense. They would not have known that this animal existed and certainly this animal would not play a significant role in their imagery or spirituality. The typical and logical assumption entertained by most modern-day Tainos is that if a certain species of animal was not native to a specific island then the Tainos living on that island would have been unfamiliar with that animal. There has always been a certain amount of debate in the Taino Resurgence Movement on the subject of what kinds of animals our Taino ancestors were familiar with. Indigenous peoples represent less than one percent of Brazil's 192 million people and occupy 12 percent of the national territory, mainly in the Amazon region.The guinea pig is native to the South American mainland continent not the Caribbean "There are joint operations with the police to protect the rights of these people," she said.įUNAI estimates that there are 77 isolated indigenous tribes scattered across the Amazon rainforest. Last month, Survival International, a leading advocate for the rights of tribal people worldwide, launched a major campaign spearheaded by Britain's Oscar-winning actor Colin Firth to focus attention on the plight of the Awa, saying they were threatened with "genocide" and "extinction."Īccording to Survival, there are roughly 360 Awa who have been contacted by outsiders, many of them survivors of massacres, along with another 100 believed to be hiding in the rapidly-shrinking forest.ĭo Rosario said Brazil's National Indian Foundation (FUNAI) was conducting surveillance operations on lands traditionally occupied by the Awa. "The Brazilian state must accomplish this task with the utmost determination and we are working hard on it," Maria do Rosario, the minister in charge of human rights, told foreign reporters.Ī Brazilian government survey estimates there could be "up to 4,500 invaders, ranchers, loggers and settlers" occupying just one of the four territories inhabited by the Awa, whose total population stands at no more than 450.
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