Cacicazgo of Marien

The Cacicazgo of Marien was one of the five Taino chiefdoms of the island of Hispaniola, occupying the northwest of the island and bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north, the cacicazgo of Jaragua to the south, the cacicazgos of Magua and Maguana to the east, and the Windward Passage to the west. It was ruled by the cacique Guacanagarix from a capital at El Guarico, near present day Cap-Haitien, and was divided into 14 nitainos; Marien was the first of the island's chiefdoms to receive Christopher Columbus and the first whose people converted to Christianity. The chiefdom is also recorded as having fought a rival group called Mairena, aided in that conflict by Caonabo of the neighboring cacicazgo of Maguana, over control of a shrine to the goddess Iermao.