Anacaona: Taina Chief

I just discovered that Edwidge Danticat wrote a children’s book that the life of Anacaona: Golden Flower as well as many Taino customs.

The book is a tribute to the Haitian hero, who Edwidge grew up admiring.

Anacaona (date of birth unknown – died about 1504, Hispaniola), also called the Golden Flower, was a Taíno chief, sister of Behechio and wife of Caonabo,chief of a nearby territory, two of the five highest caciques (chiefs) who possessed the island of Hispaniola when the Spaniards settled there in 1492. She was celebrated as a composer of ballads and narrative poems, called areytos.

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