por Who was the cacique Enriquillo?
He cacique Enriquillo (c.1498-c.1536) was the leader of the indigenous resistance on the island of Hispaniola (today made up of the Dominican Republic and Haiti). He was a war strategist, defender of the indigenous people and leader of the resistance against the Spanish conquistadores in the 16th century.
He was born as heir to the nitainato (territorial division of the cacicazgo) of Bahoruco, in lands belonging to the chieftainship of Jaragua.
Henry’s Biography
He was the son of Maniocatex, a Taino nobleman. He was orphaned in 1503, when Governor Nicolás de Ovando murdered his father in the Jaragua massacre while they were celebrating a peace agreement.
After his father died, Enriquillo was sent to live with Franciscan monks. He was raised and educated by them in a convent, as was done with all the children of caciques, to convert him to Christianity.
There he grew up, in the mountainous region of Jaragua. He thus he learned the European customs, and to read and write Spanish.
He was also indoctrinated in the Catholic religion, a religion that he fully assumed, so he strictly complied with its teachings and morality. Consequently, those around him imposed his rigidity and moral and religious conduct.
Despite his education, he was sent to work in the fields in 1514 with the Spanish Francisco Valenzuela and his heir Andrés. Enriquillo cooperated with the Spanish by working in the mines and growing food for them.
Later, he married the mestizo Mencía de Guevara, daughter of the Spanish Hernando de Guevara and Ana de Guevara, daughter of Anacaona, an important Taíno cacique.
According to one version of the story, his wife was abused by Andrés Valenzuela, one of the sons of the owner of the hacienda where Enriquillo was entrusted. The story also says that the owner, Francisco Valenzuela, treated him with the utmost respect, and when he died his children did not continue to do so.
As a result of this, Enriquillo sought help from the law, but received no response or justice.
Either because of that circumstance or because he was fed up with the injustices he saw daily, he decided to go live with his wife and a group of indigenous people in the mountains of Bahoruco. In this way he demonstrated his rebellion towards Andrés Valenzuela and his family.
He was pursued by the Spanish, confronted them and killed some and wounded others, sparing Valenzuela’s life.
Endurance
From his new home he began his resistance on both sides of the Bahoruco mountains. His style was guerrilla. He raided the Spanish haciendas, took their weapons and repelled their attacks. He did this for 14 years.
Between 1519 and 1533, Enriquillo put together an army, initially made up of few men, to carry out his business. He was able to add to his cause the Africans, who had been enslaved and forcibly taken to American lands.
end of the fight
In 1533, tired of the fight, he agreed to a peace agreement with Captain General Francisco de Barrionuevo, representative of the Spanish crown.
In the pact he negotiated the freedom of the Taíno people, eliminating the encomienda, exemption from taxes to the crown and granting territory to the original inhabitants of the lands.
The Spanish crown recognized him as a member of the nobility, and granted him the title of «don», which could only be carried by a nobleman, and from then on he was called Don Enrique.
He died around 1536, at the age of 40, in the area that is now the province of Monte Plata. On his tomb the church of Agua Santa was built in the community of Boyá.
The Dominican author Manuel de Jesús Galván wrote a historical novel about him entitled enriquillo, and published in 1879. In it, a fictitious origin was created and events that did not occur were told. Despite this, in the Dominican Republic this work is taken as a reliable source of the life of the cacique, although it is not faithful to the true story.
Don Enrique, as he was called, died under the Catholic religion, assuming himself a faithful vassal of the Spanish King Carlos I as a result of the peace agreement.
Contributions of chief Enriquillo
Enriquillo bequeathed to his people his courage and desire for freedom and justice. He managed to hold a fight for 14 years. Although he never had a real chance of victory, he did not lose heart.
Some of his main contributions were:
To be the fundamental figure of the indigenous resistance against European colonialism.
He is considered the first guerrilla in the New World for the courage to face the imperial power.
After his death, he agglutinated the dissatisfaction of the natives, and his tomb became a place of pilgrimage.
References
Milton Olivo. The Taino secret: the civilization found by Columbus in Hispaniola. Printed Mayobanex, Santo Domingo.
Cacique Enriquillo, Dominican Republic. Retrieved from geographic.org.