The civilization of the Zenúes
On the plains of the Colombian Caribbean coast, in the current department of Córdoba, lived, upon the arrival of the “conquerors”, the people of the Zenúes. The latest archaeological discoveries confirmed that the area was inhabited since the first millennium BC. Numerous ceramic fragments and tools used to work with fired clay were found in Puerto Hormiga and Malambo. They were subjected to carbon 14 testing and were confirmed to date back to 3000 BC. In the first centuries after Christ, the transition from an egalitarian society to small domains independent of each other, governed by a chief, began. Based on careful linguistic studies, it was established that the Zenúes had Amazonian origins . In effect, they spoke a language of the Caribbean group, spoken in Amazonia and in the Caribbean territory.
When the Castilian Pedro de Heredia made his first excursions in this territory, the town of the Zenúes was divided into three kingdoms: Pancenú, Fincenú and Cenofana. The basis of the Zenú economy was agriculture. They had built canals that they used to irrigate huge arable areas. The Zenú people were also distinguished by their craftsmanship and the art of weaving. They produced ceramic vessels decorated with anthropomorphic figures and cotton fabrics that were exchanged with neighboring towns. There were three main centers: Mexion, Yapel and Fincenú. The latter was the most important religious place and was used for the burial of the Chiefs.
Trees were planted over the graves, where golden records and bells were left to tinkle in the wind. The Zenúes had a particular relationship with gold and precious stones. First of all, they did not give it an intrinsic value but, rather, a spiritual value, connected with the main Divinity, the Sun. The magnificently crafted gold jewelry was left along with weapons and fabrics in the tombs, to accompany the deceased in his last trip. During these times, wooden statues covered in solid gold were found, which unfortunately were melted down and sent to Spain.
The main person responsible for the genocide of the Zenú people was the terrible “conqueror” Pedro de Heredia, the founder of Cartagena de Indias. He was forced to leave Spain at approximately his twenties because he was being sought by the justice system. In fact, he had murdered three men who had robbed him days before. He arrived in Santo Domingo and then headed to Santa Marta, a city recently founded by the Sevillian Rodrigo de Bastidas. He came into contact with the Tayrona indigenous people , who lived near the coast and on the slopes of the Sierra Nevada, the enormous mountain range nearby. He exchanged objects of little value, such as mirrors, combs and cutlery, for gold coins, which for the natives had only ornamental value.
He quickly realized that with some extra effort he could appropriate immense fortunes. He was involved in fights with the natives, in which his ruthless and cruel character began to emerge. Since some Spanish merchants described to him the southwestern territory, crossed by the Sinú River, telling him that it was inhabited by a harmless people rich in gold, he began to outline his plan. He returned to Spain and asked to meet King Charles V, to ask to be recognized as governor of that area and to be able to found a city. He gave the Crown a fifth of the gold and precious stones he looted from the Tayronas. The emperor's mother, Juana La Loca, granted him the title of governor of the Caribbean coast, from Río Magdalena to the Gulf of Urabá, and the possibility of founding a city. Heredia arrived at Calamar Bay in 1533, the cove that was discovered by Juan de La Cosa some thirty years earlier.
He was helped by “India Catalina”, a native of Zamba, who served as an interpreter and advisor. He initially clashed with the Calamar indigenous people, and emerged victorious. In June 1533 he founded the village of Cartagena, which quickly gained more importance than that of Santa Marta, because of the protected natural port.
But Heredia had not forgotten the words of the Castilian merchants who had told him about the lands of Sinú, and its gold. He organized an expedition and set out at the head of a hundred well-armed and equipped men. When he entered the lands of the Zenúes he spread terror among the natives who had never seen harquebuses, nor iron swords, much less horses. The scant resistance of the Zenúes was annihilated in a few days and the Spanish looted the tombs of the ancestors, appropriating enormous quantities of gold.
In this first enterprise the Castilian managed to seize a lot of gold, because he looted the tombs and temples, located in Fincenú. Subsequently, there were other companies in which the governor continued to commit other crimes against the native peoples, subjecting them to torture to make them give him their gold, and to tell him the location of the mines. Furthermore, he was one of the first to start a dirty trafficking of indigenous people, whom he imprisoned as slaves and resold with enormous profit in Cartagena, transgressing the rules of the Spanish Crown. When the bishop of Cartagena, Tomás del Toro, accused him of abuses against the native ethnic groups, the Crown sent Juan de Badillo to confirm the facts. Heredia was imprisoned but quickly managed to get himself released, and traveled to Spain to get himself acquitted. The Castilian achieved his goal, probably because he poured a large amount of gold into the pockets of the Crown. He returned to Cartagena with the title of “advanced” and immediately organized another expedition to the lands of the Zenúes, where he committed other infamous acts.
In an attempt to get them to tell him where the mines were located, he tortured the chiefs, cutting off the lips of the men and the breasts of the women, and massacred the defenseless population. He traveled to the present-day Colombian department of Antioquia, at the source of the Sinú, hoping to find a huge gold vein or a shining city of gold. When it became known about this expedition and the misdeeds committed, the Crown sent the royal administrator Juan de Maldonado to verify the accusations.
Pedro de Heredia was accused of some two hundred and eighty-nine crimes, among which were homicide, ravages, torture, hiding gold, and failure to send the “fifth real” to Spain.
He was imprisoned and the trial continued until 1555 when he was found guilty, deprived of the title of governor and sentenced to death. He managed, however, to escape, and embarked on a brig in the hope of returning to Spain. He was shipwrecked off the coast of Andalusia, and drowned. An ancient Zenú legend said that anyone who had looted the tombs of the ancestors would not have had a peaceful and serene existence. That's how it went.
YURI LEVERATTO
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