Una Isla, DOS Mundos

Este trabajo permitiO conocer que en la regiOn Norte de la isla se puede identificar la transformaciOn del paisaje indIgena en dos niveles. El primero, denominado Nivel Cotidiano, fue observado a travEs de los taskscapes en conflicto, los cuales muestran las transformaciones en las tareas diarias llevadas a cabo tradicionalmente por los grupos indIgenas, y su disrupciOn con aquellas tareas impuestas en el nuevo rEgimen colonial. El segundo, llamado Nivel del Imaginario, se divide en dos transformaciones: la primera se identificO en la percepciOn que los primeros espaNoles tuvieron de los grupos indIgenas; y la segunda, se observO en el cambio final del mundo indIgena al mundo colonial, donde tanto las prActicas como las identidades previas fueron integradas y parcialmente desaparecidas dentro de la idea del "Nuevo Mundo."

De acuerdo a las opiniones de historiadores y especialistas, a lo largo de este libro se utiliza el topOnimo HaytI para referirse al nombre que los indIgenas le dieron a la isla, y La EspaNola para referirse al topOnimo dado por los espaNoles (ver capItulo 1).

English abstract

The arrival of Columbus to the Caribbean in 1492 marked a milestone in world history. In both the European and the indigenous world, a set of economic, political and hierarchical networks and relations were defined, structured and changed. These changes affected the indigenous population at different cultural, social and political levels.

One way to approach the transformations that occurred in the indigenous world is by studying material culture patterns and their spatial distribution. In this work a regional archaeological investigation was combined with a theoretical framework that integrated the concepts of taskscape and contested landscapes with statistical analysis and Geographic Information Systems to evaluate the patterns of material culture distribution and its cultural implications.

The research project was carried out on the coast of the current Montecristi province in northwest Dominican Republic. The theories and methods were applied to different archaeological spatial patterns as well as a set of environmental characteristics. This allowed indigenous taskscapes to be defined at different spatial scales, which in turn permitted the delineation of the indigenous landscape before the arrival of Columbus.

The archaeological results were compared with evidence from the early colonial chronicles and cartography for the north of the island. This comparison highlighted the spatial and material bases for the transformation of the indigenous landscape.

The final results were encapsulated by two transformations of the indigenous landscape. The first, called the Everyday Level, was observed through contested taskscapes, which reveal how traditional daily tasks undertaken by indigenous groups were transformed and disrupted by the new colonial regime. The second, called the Imaginary Level, is built on two additional transformations. The first was identified based on how the first Spaniards perceived indigenous groups. The second was revealed in the final change of the indigenous world to the colonial world, where both practices and previous identities were integrated and partially disappeared within the idea of the "New World."