Arawak

A number of linguistically associated native groups - the Antillean Arawak or Taino - who inhabited the villages of the Greater Antilles and parts of mainland South America. They were slash-and-burn agriculturists who cultivated cassava and maize. The people were arranged in social ranks and were ruled by chiefs whose religion centered on a hierarchy of nature spirits and ancestors. Pottery of Saladoid type is found in from western Venezuela to the West Indies, and in the northern islands there is a ceramic continuity from Saladoid ware to insular Arawak. The Arawak were driven out of the Lesser Antilles by the Carib shortly before the appearance of Columbus and the Spanish, but they still numbered in the millions at that time. Since the Arawakan language is not found to the north or in Mesoamerica, it is likely that these people came to the islands from the south.

A number of linguistically associated native groups (e.g. Taino) which occupied a broad area covering northeastern South America and much of the Caribbean. A southern origin is probable for this skilled pottery-making agricultural group, but a late Mesoamerican influence may be inferred from the presence of ball courts and Zemi worship. Although they were displaced in many areas (especially in the Lesser Antilles) by aggressive Carib migrants, the Arawak still numbered millions at the time of the arrival of Colombus.