Image 1. Island Exchanges

Move your mouse over the image and pause on things to see information 'pop ups' (blue shapes). Click for more when the hand icon appears (red shapes). This illustration has 13 red shapes and 6 blue shapes - can you find them all? The answers can be found here - don't cheat!

Island Exchanges

A Hispaniolan (Taíno) emissary presents a siba (stone celt) to the Lucayan cacique (chief), who welcomes him to his village with an entourage of family members ceremonially painted and attired in a rich variety of stone and shell bead body ornaments (including belts, naguas – women’s aprons, necklaces and ear flares). 

The emissary has come to offer in trade the stone artefacts from his village - not available in the Lucayan archipelago - for the small shell beads so expertly made in the region. 

The ceremonial nature of this exchange underscores that these inter-island connections were not simply about accessing materials and artefacts, but about the social connections that bound people together in these long-distance networks.

Worksheets

Unit 1a: Island Exchanges, all figures (JPG, 0.8 MB)

Unit 1b: Island Exchanges, Cacique (JPG, 0.5 MB)

Unit 1c: Island Exchanges, 3 Generations (JPG, 0.5 MB)

Unit 1d: Island Exchanges, Emissary (JPG, 0.8 MB)