Taino and Kalinago Architecture Quiz

Taino Architecture

• The Taino people built two types of houses: circular and rectangular.
• The circular houses were for the general population and supported by poles, covered with woven straw and palm leaves.
• The rectangular houses were for the Caciques and featured a porch.
• Despite differences in shape and size, both types of houses used the same materials.
• Taino houses had little furniture.
• People slept in cotton hammocks or on banana leaf mats.
• They made wooden chairs with woven seats, couches, and cradles for children.

Kalinago Architecture

• The Kalinagos built houses made of thatch, poles, and twigs.
• They also built a storehouse for tools, weapons, and furniture.
• The Kalinagos had a meeting house called a Karbay, where men planned raids and discussed village matters.
• Kalinago villages were made up of only a few houses.

Taino Survival Strategies

• The Taino people had two main agricultural practices: subsistence farming and slash-and-burn agriculture.
• The conuco was a large mound used for farming, packed with leaves to improve drainage and protect against soil erosion.
• Their primary crop was manioc or cassava, but they also grew maize, sweet potato, cotton, groundnuts, and tobacco.
• The Tainos practiced fishing and hunting, catching fish, crabs, lobsters, turtles, shellfish, and manatees.
• The Tainos used harpoons or their hands to catch fish and shellfish from the coral reefs.
• They caught turtles by attaching a remora (sucker-fish) on a long line to a canoe.

Taino Physical Appearance and Dress

• The Taino people were short to medium height with olive-brown skin, long black hair, flat foreheads, and a slight build.
• They often decorated their hair with parrot feathers.
• They pierced their ears, noses, and sometimes their lower lips to wear ornaments like gold.
• Both men and women painted their bodies, especially on ceremonial occasions.
• The hair was typically worn loose and flowing.

Taino Food and Diet

• The Taino diet consisted of fruits, vegetables, and cultivated crops, including pineapple, star apples, guavas, cashews, cassava, sweet potatoes, and groundnuts.
• Pepper pot soup, made with meat, vegetables, peppers, and yellow snake, was a popular dish.
• The Tainos squeezed juice out of the cassava before making flour, which they used to make thin, flat cakes or bread.
• The Taino ate various types of fish, crabs, lobsters, turtles, shellfish, and manatee.

Indigenous Peoples of the Caribbean

• The Tainos spoke Arawak and were known for being peaceful.
• The Kalinagos spoke Carib and were known for being warlike.

Migration Patterns of Indigenous Peoples in the Caribbean

• During the Ice Age, humans relied on hunting and gathering for survival and were nomadic.
• The people of Beringia followed and hunted caribou, mammoth, and deer across the plains.
• They depended on animals for clothing and shelter, camping in animal skin tents as they travelled.
• Humans might have migrated to find new areas to cultivate, escape enemies, or due to climatic change impacting food supply.
• The Tainos migrated from South America to the Caribbean, island hopping from the Lesser Antilles to the Greater Antilles.
• Sea currents facilitated travel from south to north and east to west.
• The Tainos traveled from the Orinoco River to the Leeward Islands and then to eastern Puerto Rico.

Reasons for Taino and Kalinago Settlements in the Caribbean

• The Caribbean coast provided resources and served as a defense mechanism, facilitating fishing, recreation, domestic purposes, farming, and transportation.
• The Kalinago people did little to no farming.

Indigenous Language

• The Taino people spoke Arawak, a language from South America.
• The Kalinago people spoke Carib, a language from the Caribbean region.

Key Terms

• Indigenous: Originating and living naturally in an area or environment.
• Migration: Movement by people from one place to another with the intention of settling.
• Nomad: A member of a people that travels from place to place to find fresh pasture and has no permanent home.
• Amerindian: A generic term for all of the aboriginal inhabitants of the Americas.

Test your knowledge on the unique architectural styles of the Taino and Kalinago people. This quiz covers their housing structures, materials used, and cultural significance. Explore how these indigenous groups adapted their living spaces to their environment.