Cacique of Borinquen, 16th-Century Account

My research trip to Puerto Rico

Cacique, how I came about writing this article. In September 2010, I took a trip to Puerto Rico to research the National Archives in Old San Juan. It was my first genealogical research trip, and to say I was excited is an understatement. I spent three weeks researching, and I was able to find a wealth of information about many direct ancestors and distant relatives. Touching documents from the 18th and 19th centuries that belonged to my great-grandparents is an experience I will never forget. It was as if they were allowing me to introduce myself to them.

The San German Book

It was a beautiful Sunday morning when I decided to stroll around Old San Juan when I stumbled across an antique store and decided to walk in and see what I would find.  I noticed they had a selection of old books, so I decided to take a look and buy several that interested me. I found a signed book written by Aurelio Tió, Fundación de San German, Biblioteca de Autores Puertorriqueños, San Juan, Puerto Rico, 1956.

The book’s topic is the foundation of San German and its colonial contribution to historical accounts on the island. It also appears that the author decided to review and correct historical accounts written by two Puerto Rican Historians, Salvador Brau, and Dr. Cayetano Coll y Toste. Unfortunately, the book is very fragile, so I decided to read it in its entirety once, not further damaging it. In doing so, I came across a chapter written about the Caciques of Puerto Rico.

A legajo (file) by Juan González Ponce de León, Audiencia de México, Leg. 203 fechado 18 de Junio 1532 was of interest to me. It is an account of Ponce de León’s first voyage to Puerto Rico in 1506, not 1508, as noted in historical books.

Y-DNA Testing and a Surprise Discovery

After going through the book, I decided to blog about a section that interested me. First, allow me to explain my reasons for doing so. Several years ago, I took a Y-DNA test with FTDNA, hoping to provide additional clues about my paternal great-grandfather’s ancestors.

The Y-DNA testing I initially took with FTDNA was the 36-marker test. Eventually, I would then upgrade the test to the 111-marker. With the 111-marker, there were two matches that I found. I was hoping to find a connection between these individuals and myself, but I didn’t find one. However, we shared a common haplogroup, Q-M3, identified as indigenous and native to the Americas. I also carry a maternal haplogroup, D1, indigenous and native to the Americas, an apparent rare case for those native to Puerto Rico.

Recently I met Dr. Juan Ramon Aviles Morales. Dr. Aviles is looking for anyone with a haplogroup Q-M3. I wrote to him and advised him that I carried this particular haplogroup. He was beyond excited as he spent many years researching and documenting that the native Taino men were not extinct. As a result, since many historical books elude this, DNA is permitting us to rewrite history.

Indigenous Ancestry In My Family

During our family reunion, I heard many times about my maternal grandmother descending from the Taino people. She was ‘trigueña” with green eyes, and her siblings, although her older sisters, had bright blue eyes. In addition, they all had thick black straight hair. We did not know that my father also descends from the Taino People.

Why I wrote this article

I wrote this article because I have a deep interest in the Taino people and their history on our island. As I was curious about the Caciques of Puerto Rico and knew of several from my earlier research, but there were others that I had never heard of before. I was able to learn about many more of them by reading this book, which covers the topic in great detail.

Don Aurelio Tió’s work provides a fascinating look at the Caciques of Puerto Rico, and I found one, in particular, to be very interesting. Many more Caciques were on the island, and many sent to neighboring islands. But they were not extinct. In fact, many Taino men did survive, and this has been proven through DNA analysis.

Final Thoughts

I hope you find the following information interesting and learn something new as I did. The hope is that you walk away with new knowledge about our Cacique. Some key data, such as their names, locations, and a description of the natives, arrived on his first expedition when Juan González Ponce de León arrived.  The information is from the author’s appendix. The Cacique and the explanation extracted from the Legajo (document) from 1532 are listed.

Table I contains a list of caciques in Puerto Rico, according to Dr. Coll y Toste, written by Mr. Irving Rouse, New York Academy of Sciences, Vol. XVIII, Part 3, page 370.

Cacique	Region/Región
Urayoan	Yagüeca
Aymamón	Aymaco (El Cacique fue el que se llamó Aymaco)
Mabodamaca	Guajataca (Nombre correcto es Mabodomoca)
Arasibo	Abacoa (rio de Arecibo)
Aramana	Toa
Majagua	Bayamón
Canobana	Cayniabón (Canóvanas)
Yuisa	Jaymanio (Aymanio significa pueblo-Región de Loiza)
Guacabo	Sibuco
Guarionex	Otoao (Utuado)
Orocobix	Jatibonico (Aibonito)
Mabo	Guaynabo
Caguax	Turabo (cacique Bagnanamay de la region de Caguas)
Agueybana	Guaynia

Dr. Coll Y Toste mentions additional Caciques on the island in various Historical Bulletin articles, as listed in Table II.

Cacique	Region/Región
Guaraca	Guayaney (Unico que le dejó Cerón a Ponce de León)
Guamaní	Guayama (Patronato-Legajo 175-Ramo 7-Fo. 40v)
Maco	Humacao
Daguao	Naguabo
Yuquibo	Daguao (Luquillo)
Yaureibo	Vieques (Caciques hermanos)
Cacimar	Vieques (Caciques hermanos)

The Founding of San German

Mr. Irving Rouse, who conducted archaeological studies on behalf of the Peabody Museum of Yale University at various Puerto Rican sites, added another Cacique to the list provided by Dr. Coll Y Toste. It is interesting to note why it was not mentioned before since it appears in the same document of the distribution of Cacique. He was listed as Cerón, which was what I extracted from the names provided by Dr. Coll y Toste. The addition is the Cacique Abey de Abeyno (Salinas), Juan González Ponce de León also mentions him among the Cacique he captured. (J.G. Folio 3vto)

Don Salvador Brau (Hist. Page 151) affirms that the only Cacique were, Guaybana, Aymamon, Guarionex, Urayoan, and Mabodomaca, and adds: “The many names added to these must be the product of imaginative fiction or mere and poorly grounded hypothesis.”

He also declares that the Cacique Jamayca Arasibo was not Puerto Rican but Jamaican. In a document (A.G.I.-Patronato-legajo 175-Ramo I), it states in a Cedula, which is granted to Secretary Conchillos, “the Cacique Francisco Yamayca Arasibo with two hundred people of his Indians, which were Borinqueño.” Don Salvador also deduces that Cacique Cayey was an Asturian name derived from the town in Asturias. Cayés, where Governor Muesas, founder of the town of Cayey, was born. We have already seen that Cacique Cayey, the chief of the town that bears his name, is one of the sixteen Caciques captured by Juan González. (J.G. Folio 3vto.). (Brau-Hist. Page.135 and 146).

Cacique Guaryana

Cacique Guaryana was probably from the Guaynia region, then Guadianilla. It has been said that the name of Guadianilla probably derived from the Bachelor Fray Francisco de Guadiana, who was the Provisor of the Cathedral of San Juan towards the end of the life of Bishop Manso. However, based on the name of this Cacique, which was unknown until now, we know that the town’s name was derived from the Cacique and not from Fray Francisco.

There is also some remote possibility that he was the chief of the Naranjito region, which was originally called Guadiana, even though the historian Don Generoso E. Morales Muñoz assumed it was given by some inhabitants (Foundation of the People of Naranjito-Guadiana-page 17).

Below is a list of Cacique whose names were forgotten and are now unearthed.

Cacique	Region/Región
Mabo el Grande	Norte del Guaorabo
Cayey	Cayey
Guaryana	Guaynia-Guaynailla (Naranjito)
Guayama	Guayama
Hagavuex	Aguas Buenas (Probable)
Bagnanamay	Caguas
Huamay	Barrio Guamá San German
Yava	Not identified
Yogueras	Not Identified
Cabuas (Caguax)	Turabo
Guamanique	Guayama
Huanicoy	Guánica?

In the (A.G.I.-File 175-Branch 18, of 1528) document, we find these additional Caciques.

Cacique	Region/Región
(Da. María) Bagnanamay	Caguax (Hija del Cacique Bagnanamay)
Comerío	Comerío (Hermano de (Da. María) Bagnanamay, Casado con (Catalina) Canaca)
(Don Gonzalo) Macuya	Toa (Casado con (Ana) Yaguana, Coll y Toste lo llama Don Gonzalo Aramana, pero este documento demuestra es erróneo)
(Diego) Aramana	Manatí (Casado con (Magdalena) Guabuca)
(Francisco) Aramana	Manatí (Casó con (Isabel) Yaguana)
(Da. Inés) Guaybana?	Guánica (Madre de Guaybana?)

Among the Taino whose names are in the cited document, the following appears Cacique or Nitaynos.

Cacique	Region
Guabuca	Yabucoa?
Macuya	Comerío
Yaguana	?
Caguana	San Lorenzo ó Utuado
Canaya	?
Canaca	?
Ahoye	Arroyo?
Mayagua	Mayagüez
Guayonana	Guayaney?
Bahima	Barinas?
Cuesna	?
Morisco	Morovis
Peligro	Pájaros-Bayamón?
Cozinera	Cacimar

Now we can believe that Juan González Ponce de León was right when he recalled and stated in his memoir that each valley on the island had its own Cacique. Juan González also declared that the Indians were numerous as ants when he went out on his exploratory expeditions. (J.G. Folio 18vto.)

The Cacique Huamay of San Germán

The Cacique Huamay of San Germán was captured by Juan González and exiled to Hispañola. From there, we know that some Cacique was exiled to Cuba, and later Cacique Guamá appears in a rebellion in Cuba together with Taino: Jamaiquinos. “Would it be the San Germeño? (Wright-Early History of Cuba page. 139). (Perea Glossary page 49. In addition, it is known that the Taino usually chose a son of the dead Cacique’s sister or chose a Cacique from other islands, such as Canabo in Hispañola, who was from the Bahamas, and Hatuey in Cuba who was Haitian. (Krickeberg Ethnology of America p. 255).

A Physical Description of the Cacique

These Caciques carried insignia of feathers, banners, diadems, belts, and earrings, influenced by expeditions to and from Yucatán. In addition, the Carib and islanders had extended their excursions to Cuba and the Bahamas, where the dreaded name, Caniba, was heard by Christopher Columbus in 1492. On the other hand, the male population of the Lesser Antilles had been exterminated, but the women were not as they were incorporated into the tribe. This could explain the similarities between the language and culture of the Lesser Antilles to that of the Aruacas. (Krickeberg page. 248).

Juan González’s Documentation

Juan González’s documentation describes rivers and towns on the northern coast, which had been previously questioned in the past. Professor Rafael W. Ramírez noted that in the book, Colonization by Brau, the existence of the Manatuabón River, cited by Oviedo (page 125). The document provides the rivers’ names and their approximate position on the northern coast. We believe the Manatuabón is the Manatí River, and that was the location of Cacique Aramana’s land known as Racheria in that era.

From Caparra, you arrive at the river named “Mabilla,” a name currently in Corozal eight leagues away (J.G. Folio. 9), and from there, two leagues to the Cibuco River.

At a distance of a league from there, they located gold in some ravines they called “the streams” and from there a half league to the Caymabón River and lastly one called Manatoabón River (Montalvo Guenard-Borinquen page 178 (6) p.187 (3 y 4) page 188 (5).

Dr. Montalvo Guenard confuses the Manatoabón River with the Maunabo River and the Guariabo River (sic.) for the Guayabo or Guaorabo River. He defends his thesis of the discovery by Boquerón (Borinquen page 323 Note 2), alleging that he did not find remains of Indian ranches in Culebrinas. Since the mouth of the Rio Guaorabo was never real, he did not make careful inquiries at that point. However, Mr. Adolfo de Hostos found ample evidence of ranches on the banks of the Rio Guaorabo, which should be conclusive as to the aspect of the problem (From Hostos Inv. Page 126).

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