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Guamá (died c. 1532) was a Taíno rebel chief who led a rebellion against Spanish rule in Cuba in the 1530s. Legend states that Guamá was first warned about the Spanish
conquistador Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (, ; meaning 'conquerors') were the explorer-soldiers of the Spanish and Portuguese Empires of the 15th and 16th centuries. During the Age of Discovery, conquistadors sailed beyond Europe to the Americas, O ...
by Hatuey, a Taíno
cacique A ''cacique'' (Latin American ; ; feminine form: ''cacica'') was a tribal chieftain of the Taíno people, the indigenous inhabitants at European contact of the Bahamas, the Greater Antilles, and the northern Lesser Antilles. The term is a Spa ...
from the island of Hispaniola.


Biography

After the death of Spanish governor Diego de Velázquez (circa 1460-1524), Guamá led a series of bloody indigenous uprisings against the Spanish that lasted for roughly 10 years. By 1530 Guamá had about fifty warriors and continued to recruit more pacified ''yndios''. The rebellion mainly occurred in the extensive forests of the area of Çagua, near Baracoa in the easternmost area of Cuba, but also farther south and west in the Sierra Maestra. Archaeologists and forensic pathologists believe that a body found in the Cuban mountains in February 2003 is indeed that of the legendary rebel chief Guamá. According to the testimony of a captive Indian taken by the Spanish during the rebellion, Guamá was murdered by his brother Oliguama, who buried an axe in his forehead while he slept, in 1532. According to oral tradition Oliguama, also spelled Holguoma, killed Guamá because of a sexual relationship between Guamá and Oliguama's wife."El Cacique Guamá," Consejo Unitario de Trabajadores Cubanos
The death of Guamá and the capture and execution of his warrior wife Casiguaya, plus the killing or dispersal of most of the group by a ''cuadrilla'', a war party of Spanish, Indians and Blacks under the orders of Spanish governor Manuel de Rojas, ended major resistance to the Spanish by 1533. Brizuela of Baitiquirí (Zayas, 1914) fought on until about 1540, when he was captured and imprisoned.


See also

*
List of Taínos This is a list of known Taínos, some of which were ''caciques'' (male and female tribal chiefs). Their names are in ascending alphabetical order and the table may be re-sorted by clicking on the arrows in the column header cells. The Taínos w ...


References


Sources

* Duarte Oropesa, José 1989 ''Historiología Cubana''. Ediciones Universal Miami Vol 1. , All volumes * Maso, Calixto C. 1998 ''Historia De Cuba''. Ediciones Universal. 3rd Edition Miami * Rousset, Ricardo V. 1918. ''Historial de Cuba''. Libreria Cervantes, Havana, Vol. 3 pp. 137–153. * Zayas y Alfonso, Alfredo 1914. ''Lexografía Antillana'' El Siglo XX Press, Havana {{DEFAULTSORT:Guama Cuban people of Taíno descent Indigenous Caribbean people 1532 deaths Cuban rebels Year of birth unknown Taíno people Tribal chiefs of the Caribbean