The Taino are just one of several indigenous peoples of the Caribbean Islands. Having migrated up through the Antilles in various waves of migration over thousands of years, Taino culture expressed itself most strongly on the islands of the Greater Antilles including Boriquen (Puerto Rico), Kiskeya (Dominican Republic), Haiti, Cuba and Jamaica, however their presence is also found in the Lesser Antilles. Ancient Taino were very skillful in making textiles, pottery, sculpture from wood and stone. While they did not have metal tools, they did make alloys of gold for adornment. Gold was associated with the sun, leadership and status.
Knowledge of the movements of stars integrated with knowledge of plant fruiting and flowering indicators allowed the Taino to time planting, harvesting and fishing seasons and to know when hurricanes were likely. All this knowledge was passed generation to generation through myth, song and dance (Areito).
Taino were very good seafarers, adept with their canoes at traveling great distances over the ocean and fishing. While the ocean was an abundant source of nutrition, the Taino also cultivated a variety of food in polyculture gardens, called Conucos. Food forests were planted around homes and a variety of domestic animals were tended. Naturalized aquaculture systems were developed around the feeding patterns of Green Turtles. Taino were also adept hunters of small mammals, reptiles and birds. Because the Taino, like Indigenous Peoples throughout the world, had rudimentary, renewable technologies, they naturally developed what today we would see as a shining example of a permaculture system to provide for their needs. They did not need to learn permaculture design process, because a holistic approach to life, combined with a deep knowledge of the natural environment, and intergenerational knowledge transmitted through myth, song, dance and patterns naturally evolved a healthy way of living in harmony with Mother Earth and her resources.
Conucos- cultivated staple food gardens
The heart of the cultivated gardens was the Cassava (Yuca), which was the staple food of the Ancient Taino, and is still very popular in island cuisines. This plant was so essential that a major Taino deity associated with the source of energy itself (the Sun) is ”Yucahu Bagua Marocoti” is named for it. In addition to Cassava, the Conuco grew batata (sweet potato), yam, maize, beans, peanuts, arrowroot, and peppers in a polyculture. Other plants for dyes and textiles (cotton) were also cultivated as well as gathered from the wild. Tobacco was an important smoking plant for the Taino who gave it the name we know it as today- Tobaku. Very often beds were mounded. Compost from animal manures (including bird and bat) along with decayed plants was added to conucos for fertility. Conucos were also rested for several years to allow for the natural restoration of fertility. By using a diversified planting, the soil fertility was preserved and pest damage was minimized. Primarily women designed and implemented planting and harvesting plans for the conucos, although men would certainly assist in the initial creation of the garden space itself. Natural indicators such as the flowering of a certain plant, fruiting of another, the appearance of a certain constellation of stars on the morning horizon, or the migration of an animal, all informed the timing of planting, harvesting, fishing and hunting. For planting times, the Pleiades, informed the Taino of the approaching seasonal spring rains, and were seen alternately as frogs (associated with rain worldwide) or children crying for their mother’s milk. Dramatic and emotional myths guaranteed that critical information such as this would be transmitted generation to generation.
Food forests and home gardens
Around the Bohio (hut/home) of Ancient Taino were intensively cultivated gardens which included fruit trees such as guava, hog plum, mammey, paw paw, sour and sweet sop, and cashews. Along with these, Taino raised some domesticated animals including birds and a bark-less dog. These food forests have continued with the introduction of additional trees such as avocado, papaya, plantain, coconut and many others in modern Caribbean gardens along with popular domesticated animals such as pigs and chickens. The gardens were also full of important herbaceous plants for medicine and food.
Fishing and aqua-cultural systems
Ancient Taino were skilled at fishing, using a variety of techniques that have persisted to the modern day. Nets, spears, hooks and lines, as well as lights at night and poison to stun the fish were all used to harvest the natural abundance from the ocean. In addition to fishing, the Taino studied the feeding and nesting pattens of the Green Turtle in order to sustainably harvest turtle meat and turtle eggs. These large turtles would feed whole villages. Intergenerational knowledge of yearly movements of key constellations allow the Taino to avoid long canoe journeys during hurricane season. The constellation of the Big Bear (ursa major) disappearing into the horizon of the ocean was depicted in myth as Guahayona throwing his brother in law Anacacuya out of a canoe by one leg. This myth transmitted the knowledge in dramatic form that when Ursa major appears on the horizon as if it is being thrown into the ocean by one leg, hurricane season has arrived.
By combining all these systems along with hunting (birds, reptiles and small mammals) and gathering, the Taino had a rich diet that varied according to the seasons. It is unlikely that today we can truly comprehend the true extent of ancient Taino knowledge of the natural environment. Since we only have fragments of myth left, we can only attempt to understand that fragment and extrapolate from there to gain an appreciation for the complex understanding that the ancient Taino were working with. In spite of this, we have enough evidence to know that the Ancient Taino were tremendous horticulturalists and agriculturalists practicing what we may term today ”permaculture”. However, realistically, today we are using permaculture as a design process (a tool) to reintegrate ourselves back into a harmonious relationship with the web of life.
Running Water’s Conuco Agueybana 