Ciguayos

Ciguayo language was spoken on the northeastern coast of the Maguá chiefdom from Nagua southward to at least the Yuna River, and throughout all of the Samaná Province.

Since the moment of contact early Spanish writers perceived them as a threat and portrayed them flaunting long hair and brandishing bows with poisoned arrows.

The ciguayos were physically distinguished from the Taínos because they were taller, they painted their bodies with black dye and allowed their hair to grow longer, which they adorned with feathers, to the entire length, according to Bartolomé de las Casas.

At the end of the 15th century the ciguayos occupied the Macorís de Arriba, mountain ranges of the today Cordillera Septentrional that were then called Ciguay, their ruler was Mayobanex.

[6] Bartolomé de las Casas, who studied the Ciguayos and was one of the few who read Ramón Pané’s original work in Spanish, provided most of the documentation about this group.