Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Economic activity involves the means by which the societies attained their specific and general needs whether by subsistence to surplus farming , by nomadic approach to hunting, forms of trade, utilization of natural resources(e.g. fishing). Economic activity will also highlight the roles and contributions of different gender and age defined individuals in the process of meeting their needs.
PART 1
The Tainos
TAINO
4.
5.
FARMING
They engaged in subsistence farming- just enough for themselves. One way of subsistence farming is:
Conuco cultivation: system of large-scale agriculture producing starch and sugar rich foods
Cassava Sweet potato Yam Tania Peanuts Arrowroot Maize Peppers Beans Tobacco Cotton Pumpkin
FARMING CONTD
Fruits grown:
Pineapple
Naseberry Guava Hug plum Sweet sop Sour sop Mammey apple Cashews Paw-paw
Young men felled trees, heaped the soil ,planted crops, cleared drains. Children helped clear crops of pest , weeding and chasing away birds. Women took care of crops , cleared weds, watered planted seeds and roots.
HUNTING
Birds Reptiles Small brocket deer Agouti Wild pigeons Dove Iguanas Snakes Turtle Parrots
They had simple but effective hunting tools e.g. compromised spears, darts, slings , nets and traps
FISHING
Hunting could not be the only source of food as it was not always sufficient to feed large villages. Fishing contributed to a major part of Taino food culture. Though an abundance of fish existed the tainos were sometime limited by their own fishing technologies (e.g. spears, hooks)
To note: the Taino diet was rich in proteins, sugar, starch and fats ; a bad diet, malnutrition and diseases were avoided due their diet.
TRADING
The Tainos built canoes to conduct trading between the Caribbean islands. Things traded include cloth, tools, tobacco, weapons.
Kalinagos
PART 2
KALINAGOS
The Kalinago people had a less organized economic society due to the fact that they were more nomadic when compared to a more settled Taino people
Sweet potatoes Arrow root(more extensive than Taino) Coconut Plantain Sugar cane
Nb- In Taino and Kalinago society women were responsible for crop production mixing and selection .
HUNTING &FISHING
The Kalinagos liked hunting They hunted and fished as a back-up for their farming They reared Muscovy duck and ate it They hunted: lizards
crabs Agouti Fish They did NOT eat turtle meat for they feared it would make them stupid They had a more advance hunting technology than the Tanoes Hunting technology include bow and arrow
PART 3
The Mayans
FARMING
Engaged in surplus farming they had enough to store for the future as well as to trade. Crops: pumpkins
The Mayans had many rivers so a lot of fishing was done and fish was a part of their diet. Fish was smoked/stewed with chili peppers eaten with tortillas.
TRADING
This was the main economic activity as goods were produced in surplus for that purpose-to trade. Trading was done through the bartering system were cocoa beans were used in place of currency For expensive purchases gold, jade and copper were used as means of exchange
TRADING CONTD
Trade by land and sea was carried out by ppolms and chontals(merchants responsible for trade) respectively Things they traded:
Various foods Cotton textiles Minerals Ceramics Gold Marine items Implements
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Lest You Forget Caribbean Economy and Slavery by Doris Hamilton-Willie CXC Lecture Series Caribbean History by Nadine C. Atkinson Liberties Lost Caribbean Indigenous Societies and Slave Systems by Hilary McD. Beckles and Verene A. Sheperd The People Who Came Book 2 by James Carnegie and Patricia Patterson Caribbean Revision History For CXC by Peter Ashdown and Francis Humphreys Grade 8 History notebook