At the time Juan Ponce de León took possession of the Island, there were about twenty villages, or "yucayeque." Cacique Agüeybana was chief of the Taínos. He lived at Guánica, the largest Indian village in the island, on the Guayanilla River. The rank of each was apparently established along democratic lines; his importance in the tribe was determined by the size of his clan, rather than its war-making strength. There was no aristocracy of lineage, nor were their titles other than those given to individuals to distinguish their services to the clan.