Page "History of Cuba" Paragraph 12

Despite the difficult relations between the local Cubans and the new Europeans, some cooperation was in evidence.

The Spanish were shown by the Native Cubans how to nurture tobacco and consume it in the form of cigars.

There were also many unions between the largely male Spanish colonists and indigenous women.

Their children were called mestizos, but the Native Cubans called them Guajiro, which translates as " one of us ".

Modern-day studies have revealed traces of Taíno DNA in individuals throughout Cuba, although the population was largely destroyed as a culture and civilization after 1550.

With the Spanish New Laws of 1552 Cuban Indians were freed from encomienda, and some seven Indian towns were set up.

There are descendant Cuban Indian ( Taíno ) families in several places, mostly in eastern Cuba.

The Indian community at Caridad de los Indios, Guantánamo, is one such nuclei.

An association of Indian families in Jiguani, near Santiago, is also active.

The local Indian population left their mark also on the language with some 400 Taíno terms and place-names of the island.

Various cults and religions, such as Danza del Cordon and Afro-Cuban religion, incorporate Taíno spiritual practices.

The name of Cuba itself, Havana, Camagüey, and many others were derived from the neo-Taíno language, and Indian words such as tobacco, hurricane and canoe were transferred to English and are used today.