The

cacicazgo ''Cacicazgo'' is a phonetic Spanish transliteration (or a derivative) of the Taíno word for the lands ruled by a ''cacique''. The Spanish colonial system recognized indigenous elites as nobles in Mexico and Peru, and other areas. Nobles could ...

of Jaragua, also written as ''Xaragua'', was one of the five

chiefdoms A chiefdom is a political organization of people represented or governed by a chief. Chiefdoms have been discussed, depending on their scope, as a stateless, state analogue or early state system or institution. Usually a chief's position i ...

in the island of

Hispaniola Hispaniola (, also ) is an island between Geography of Cuba, Cuba and Geography of Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean. Hispaniola is the most populous island in the West Indies, and the second-largest by List of C ...

, stretching across the southwest; delimited to the north by the cacicazgo of Marién, to the south by the

Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere, located south of the Gulf of Mexico and southwest of the Sargasso Sea. It is bounded by the Greater Antilles to the north from Cuba ...

, to the east by the cacicazgo of Maguana, and to the west by the Jamaica Channel. Jaragua emerged as the union of two previous cacicazgos, ''Zui'' and ''Yáquimo''. Jaragua was ruled by the cacique . It had the largest area of the chiefdoms on the island. He had his seat at a place called Guava, near the present-day city of

Léogâne Léogâne (; ) is one of the coastal communes in Haiti. It is located in the eponymous Léogâne Arrondissement, which is part of the Ouest Department. The port town is located about west of the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince. Léogâne has ...

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

; it was divided into 26 nitaínos. The situation among the native people was that Bohechío, the brother of

Anacaona Anacaona (1474?–1504), or Golden Flower, was a Taíno cacica, or female ''cacique'' (chief), religious expert, poet and composer born in Xaragua. Before the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492, bohio or babeque to the Taínos (the Spaniards ...

, had to reside within the subchiefdom of Yáquimo, which was waging a war against two earlier, more culturally primitive native settlers of Quisqueya, one of them located in the region of Yuboa and the other in the extreme southwest of the island called Guacayarima. Bohechío required a double alliance with the chief of Haniguayagua for control of the southwest and

Caonabo Caonabo (died 1496) was a Taíno ''cacique'' (chieftain) of Hispaniola at the time of Christopher Columbus's arrival to the island. He was known for his fighting skills and his ferocity. He was married to Anacaona, who was the sister of another ...

, and for control of and access to Yuboa.

References

{{coord missing, Haiti History of Indigenous peoples of North America History of Hispaniola Indigenous topics of the Caribbean Taíno Indigenous peoples in Haiti Indigenous peoples in the Dominican Republic