RMC Language Consultancy
  • About Us
  • Meet the team
  • Services
  • Testimonials
  • Blog
  • Gallery
  • FAQs
  • Contact Us

Amerindian Footprints: Hyarima

9/2/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture
PicturePhoto published by Wired868.
Like footprints in the sand, though faded or washed away, we acknowledge and remember the presence of the first peoples who roamed and cultivated this rich land of Trinidad and Tobago, the very soil of which is nourished by their ancestral DNA. These indigenous peoples or First Peoples who settled in the Caribbean formed themselves into tribes based on their locations, lived a simple, yet hard-working life and traded among tribes and even islands as they canoed up and down the Caribbean Sea. Their presence has been so prominent in Trinidad that even places were named by them. However, the life these first settlers knew was about to plunge into anarchy.
 
The Europeans arrived and took hold of these islands and their resources through the renaming of and theft from these lands, and enslaving and forcibly converting local tribes to Christianity. The Amerindians were under siege, suffering from overwork and abuse. Yet, though primitive, heroes arose among them in honour of their ancestors, gods and people. One such man whose gold-coloured statue welcomes you upon entering the Borough of Arima is that of Hyarima or Hy Arima. He was such a powerful native figure who called the ‘shots’ along the east-west corridor.
 
Chief Hyarima led the people of the Araucan Tribe who lived within the region of Arouca, North Trinidad. He was enslaved, along with his tribe, by the Europeans and escaped their captivity around 1625. It is believed he fled to the hills of Arima where he set up his base. Fuelled with rage for these newcomers, he began recruiting and influencing other Amerindians to not only escape, but to form an alliance that sought the oppressors’ downfall. He became a nuisance to the colonisers and harassed them constantly by launching attacks on their settlements. He worked alongside the Dutch and successfully executed an attack on the then capital of San José, currently known as St. Joseph, which made villagers flee the area in 1637. Every year, rituals are performed at his statue by the descendants of the First Peoples in remembrance of his and others’ legacy and to honour the elementals.

Their footprints, which once were and forever will be, still mark the sands of time.

We hope you have enjoyed our segments featuring the Amerindian heritage of Trinidad and Tobago.

Picture
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    June 2023
    April 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    May 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    September 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    February 2018
    December 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Services:
  • Translation
  • Editing
  • Proofreading
  • Interpreting
  • Intercultural coaching
  • ​Foreign language tuition for adults and children
  • ​Corporate conference services
Contact us:
Picture
Picture
​  868 750-6315

​admin@rmclanguages.com

​​Follow us:
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture