The Names of Taíno Women Survive in the Colonial Record

 

Their names survive in the colonial record. Their legacy survives in Taíno women today.

Did You Know: Early colonial records from Borikén preserve the personal names of Taíno women whose individual identities are often overlooked in generalized histories of early Spanish colonial period. Historian Francisco Moscoso highlights a June 26, 1516 relación de cacona—a record of clothing provided as payment to Taíno people subjected to the encomienda system at the Real Hacienda de Toa. Among the women named in that document were Yayguana, Ataguas, Ata, Canaca, Caguama, and Buriquena, along with many others. Moscoso traces the record to Aurelio Tanodi’s compilation of documents from Puerto Rico’s Royal Treasury.

These women were not anonymous figures living on the margins of history. They belonged to particular communities, had families, names, identities, and lived through the violent transformation of Borikén under Spanish colonization. Other records preserve additional Taíno women by name. Gu'ahia Taíno, drawing on the work of Puerto Rican scholar Luis Hernández Aquino, also identifies three Indigenous women, Aldonza Ata, Catalina Ata, and Teresa Ata during this same time period. They too were subjected to the encomienda of Kasike Aramana.

On the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Women and Girls, observed each September 5, the United Confederation of Taíno People remembers not only celebrated women leaders such as Anakaona, but also the many Taíno women whose lives remain only partially visible in the colonial record. The survival of names such as Yayguana, Ataguas, Canaca, Caguama, Buriquena, Aldonza Ata, Catalina Ata, and Teresa Ata reminds us that our ancestors were not simply categories in colonial documents—they were individual Indigenous women whose lives formed part of the continuing history of our Peoples. The United Nations established September 5 as the annual International Day of the World’s Indigenous Women and Girls to recognize the leadership, knowledge, contributions, and rights of Indigenous women and girls worldwide.

References

Francisco Moscoso. “Los cacicazgos taínos y la historia antigua de Puerto Rico.” 80grados+, July 25, 2025. Moscoso cites the 1516 Toa record and identifies the women Yayguana, Ataguas, Ata, Canaca, Caguama, and Buriquena.

Aurelio Tanodi, comp. Documentos de la Real Hacienda de Puerto Rico. Volumen I: 1510–1519. See pp. 104–107, cited by Moscoso as the source for the June 26, 1516 relación de cacona.

Luis Hernández Aquino. Diccionario de voces indígenas de Puerto Rico. 2nd ed. Río Piedras: Editorial Cultural, 1977. Moscoso includes the work in his bibliography, and Gu'ahia Taíno draws on Hernández Aquino for the colonial record of Aldonza, Catalina, and Teresa Ata.

Roberto Múkaro Agueibaná Borrero. Gu'ahia Taíno: We Speak Taíno — A Classic Taíno Dictionary and Grammar Guide, Vol. 1. United Confederation of Taíno People, 2023. 

Indigenous Peoples of the Caribbean Constructed Roads and Causeways

 

Stone structures at the Centro Ceremonial Indígena de Tibes, Ponce, Borikén. Tibes preserves plazas, stone alignments, constructed walks, and other features that demonstrate a long Indigenous tradition of shaping and organizing ceremonial landscapes. Photo: Ligocsicnarf89 / Wikimedia Commons, CC0.

Did You Know: Archaeological sites across the Caribbean preserve evidence that Indigenous Peoples constructed roads, causeways, and other prepared pathways. At Chacuey in Kiskeia (Dominican Republic), archaeologists documented parallel stone-cobble causeways associated with a major ceremonial complex that extended toward the Río Chacuey for more than 600 meters. In Borikén (Puerto Rico), constructed roads and causeways have also been documented at Indigenous ceremonial centers, including Caguana, Tibes, and other sites.

The precise purposes of these structures remain open to interpretation. Some may have facilitated movement between important places, while others may have had ceremonial or political functions—or served several purposes at once. What the archaeological evidence makes clear is that the Indigenous landscape encountered by Europeans was not simply a collection of isolated iukaieke (yucayeque). Taíno Peoples shaped and organized the landscapes around their settlements, rivers, ceremonial centers, and other important places.

Background Sources:
Samuel M. Wilson, The Indigenous People of the Caribbean / archaeological discussion of Chacuey
Miguel Rodríguez, archaeological studies of Indigenous ceremonial centers in Borikén
Irving Rouse, The Tainos: Rise and Decline of the People Who Greeted Columbus
Sebastián Robiou Lamarche, Taínos y Caribes: Las culturas aborígenes antillanas