Aguacadiba

Aguacadiba was a Taíno village in Jamaica, remembered in accounts of Columbus’s final voyage. Its people cultivated cassava and obtained food by hunting and fishing. The village lay in a region called Guaygata, where Indigenous communities and their leaders maintained their own settlements before the Spanish colonization of the island.

In 1503 Columbus’s damaged ships were stranded on Jamaica’s northern coast. His companion Diego Méndez sought provisions inland and reached Aguacadiba. He made an agreement with its cacique and inhabitants to supply cassava bread, game and fish to the stranded crews in exchange for blue beads, knives and other useful goods. The agreement sustained the visitors during their long and difficult stay and shows the part local communities played in their survival.