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Tainos and other pre-Columban peoples

• Message 1.Β 

  Posted by shivfan (U2435266) on Thursday, 27th August 2009

  There is so much that is not known about the pre-Columban peoples of the Caribbean. For example, students of history in the Caribbean grew up learning that the first settlers of the western Caribbean were Arawaks. However, recent archeological evidence has shown that they were in fact Tainos, and not Arawaks. Who knows what new evidence will unearth about these peoples a decade from now?
  
  Part of the problem is that the Tainos were totally annihilated by the Spanish conquerors within a couple of decades of Christopher Columbus 'discovering' the New World in 1492. So, a lot of what we now know about them depends on what has been dug up about these people, and unfortunately it's very limited.
  
  The more warlike Caribs lived in the east Caribbean, and put up more of a fight. As a result, there are still some pockets of Caribs still living in the Lesser Antilles. However, quite a few misconceptions exist about the Caribs, largely propagated by the Spanish conquerors. For example, it now seems generally accepted that the Spanish colonialists spread a myth about cannibalism, just so they could get the go-ahead from Queen Isabella to 'civilise' these un-Christian people.
  
  Does anybody have any more information about the Caribs, the Tainos, the Arawaks and the Ciboney?

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