Taíno

The Taíno, or Island Arawaks, were the principal Indigenous people of the West Indies when Europeans arrived, their speech and farming culture having been carried from the Amazon and Orinoco basins through the Lesser Antilles. They lived under hereditary caciques and worshipped spirit images known as zemis.

Their conuco mound fields produced cassava, sweet potatoes, maize and cotton. Their ceremonial ball game, batey, was played on village courts.

In 1492 they became the first Americans met by Columbus, but Spanish conquest on Hispaniola brought forced labour, the encomienda, and epidemics. Governor Ovando had dozens of captive caciques burned at Jaragua, and from 1519 to 1533 the cacique Enriquillo waged a revolt from the Bahoruco mountains before winning terms. Within a few generations the island communities had been shattered, the survivors merging into the colonial population while preserving Taíno descent and memory.