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Archive for the ‘All About the Taino Indians’ Category


Taino smallpox epidemic

The Spaniards, who first arrived in the Bahamas, Cuba, and Hispaniola in 1492, and later in Puerto Rico, did not bring women in the first expeditions. They took Taino women for their common-law wives, resulting in mestizo children. Sexual violence in Haiti with the Taíno women by the Spanish was also common. Scholars suggest there […]

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Taino and Carib Rivalry

The Taino were historically enemies of the neighboring Carib tribes, another group with origins in South America, who lived principally in the Lesser Antilles. The relationship between the two groups has been the subject of much study. For much of the 15th century, the Taíno tribe was being driven to the northeast in the Caribbean […]

Taino tribe conflicts...

Taino Indians in Cuba

Cuba, the largest island on the Antilles, was originally divided into 29 chiefdoms. Most of the native Taino settlements later became the site of Spanish colonial cities retaining the original Taino names, for example; Havana, Batabano, Camaguey, Baracoa and Bayamo. The name Cuba comes from the Taino language; however the exact meaning of the name […]

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Taino Indians and Columbus

At the time of the Columbus arrival in 1492, there were five Taino chiefdoms and territories on Hispaniola each led by a principal Cacique or chieftain, to whom tribute was paid. Ayiti or land of high mountains is the indigenous Taino name for the mountainous side of the island of Hispaniola, which has kept its […]

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Origins of the Taino Indians

The ancestors of Taino Indians entered the Caribbean from South America. At the time of contact, the Taino Indians were divided into three broad groups, known as the Western Taíno located fundamentally in Jamaica, most of Cuba, and the Bahamas, the archetypal Taino was from Hispaniola and Puerto Rico and the Eastern Taino from the […]

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Taino Indians in Cuba

The Taino people were of Arawak decent, one of the major indigenous peoples of the Caribbean prior to the arrival of the conquistadores. At the time of European contact in the late 15th century, they were the principal inhabitants of most of Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola now called Haiti and the Dominican Republic and also Puerto […]

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