Archeological evidence suggests that, before Columbus ' arrival, the indigenous Guanajatabey, who had inhabited the island for centuries, were driven to the west of Cuba by the arrival of two subsequent waves of migrants, the Taíno and Ciboney.

At the time of the European discovery of most of the islands of the Caribbean, three major Amerindian indigenous peoples lived on the islands: the Taíno in the Greater Antilles, The Bahamas and the Leeward Islands ; the Island Caribs and Galibi in the Windward Islands ; and the Ciboney in western Cuba.

The name Ciboney derives from the Taíno language, in which it means Cave Dwellers ; evidence has shown that a number of the Ciboney people have lived in caves at some time.

When the Europeans arrived, the Ciboney had already been driven by their powerful Taíno neighbors to western Hispaniola ( Haiti ) and western Cuba.

Harrington ( 1921 ) applied the name Ciboney to this population, not realizing that the Indians had used that name to refer to a part of the Taíno speech community.

The settlement was at Baracoa, but the new settlers were to be greeted with stiff resistance from the local Taíno population.

The final Arawak migrants, the Caribs, began moving up the Lesser Antilles in the 12th century, and were raiding Taíno villages on the island's eastern coast by the late sixteenth century.

Slave insurrections were frequent and some slaves escaped to the mountains where they were met by what would be one of the last generations of Taíno natives.

The first inhabitants of the islands were Arawakan-speaking Taíno people who crossed over from Hispaniola sometime from 500 to 800.

During the first voyage of the explorer Christopher Columbus ( mandated by the Spanish crown to conquer ) contact was made with the Lucayans in the Bahamas and the Taíno in Cuba and the northern coast of Hispaniola, and a few of the native people were taken back to Spain.

Although population estimates vary, Father Bartolomé de las Casas, the “ Defender of the Indians ” estimated there were 6 million ( 6, 000, 000 ) Taíno and Arawak in the Caribbean at the time of Columbus's arrival in 1492.

The Arawak people include the Taíno, who occupied the Lesser Antilles and Guadeloupe ( called " Karukera " meaning " The island of beautiful waters ") before being largely killed off by the Caribs in the 18th century ; the Greater Antilles and the Bahamas ( Lucayans ); the Nepoya and Suppoya of Trinidad ; the Lokono of Guyana, and the Igneri, who were supposed to have preceded the Caribs in the Lesser Antilles-such as in, together with related groups ( including the Lucayans ) which lived along the eastern coast of South America, as far south as what is now Brazil.

After Salcedo's death, the Taíno Indians were encouraged to declare war on the Spaniards in Puerto Rico.

Since before the Spanish colonization in the 16th century, Taíno Indians were already established in the Orocovis region.

These " cells " of Taíno indians were known to settle in the vicinity of the rivers.

Alegría estimated that about one third of all Puerto Ricans ( 2 million out of 6 million ) have Taíno blood and therefore the Taínos were not completely extinct and some had to survive.

The earliest known Water Island settlers were Taíno in the 15th century.

Recent DNA studies indicate that the minority of people in Puerto Rico are descended maternally in part from Taíno / Arawakan ancestors.

Puerto Ricans still use many Taíno words that are not part of the international Spanish lexicon.

European, African and Taíno cultural elements are most prominent in food, family structure, religion and music.

Arawak indigenous culture ( in Puerto Rico, specifically that of the Taíno Amerindian ), though destroyed by Spanish slave owners, survived through its miscegenated descendants and, as the first fusion of a non-European language to Spanish, became the major tying force which brought together all the other cultural contributions which would soon come.

Besides lending itself to the traditional problems of culture, history and chronology, the site provides the ideal setting for the study of the cultural processes responsible for the transition from Igneri to Taíno cultural manifestation.

Puerto Ricans, who also commonly refer to themselves as " boricuas ", are largely the descendants of Europeans, Taíno, Africans or a blend of these groups which has produced a very diversified population.

The forest is commonly known as El Yunque, which may be attributed to either a Spanish approximation of the aboriginal Taíno word yu-ke which means " white lands ", or the word " anvil ," which is yunque in Spanish.

Taíno, commonly called Island Arawak, was spoken on the Caribbean islands of Cuba, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, and the Bahamas.

The Taíno people called the island Quisqueya ( mother of all lands ) and Ayiti ( land of high mountains ).

Its Taíno name was Iabanea but some writers, including poets, say that it was called Toeya or Toella.

It was inhabited by the Taíno, an Arawakan people, who variously called their island Ayiti, Bohio, or Kiskeya.

The Taíno people called the island Quisqueya ( mother of all lands ) and Ayiti ( land of high mountains ).

Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo and las Casas documented that the island was called Haití (" Mountainous Land ") by the Taíno.

Before the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492, the Taíno people populated the island which they called Quisqueya ( mother of all lands ) and Ayiti ( land of high mountains ), and which Columbus named Hispaniola, including the territory of today's Republic of Haiti.

The original inhabitants of Puerto Rico are the Taíno, who called the island Borikén ; however, as in other parts of the Americas, the native people soon diminished in number after the arrival of European settlers.

Another Taíno instrument still used today is the Conch Shell Horn which is many times simply called La Flauta ( many times used in Bomba music ).

The name of Canóvanas comes from a local Taíno cacique called Canobaná ( Canovanax ).

In 2010, Urrutia recorded a documentary called Taíno Vive where he visits communities of people that follow the Taíno people lifestyle.

Arawak and / or Taíno spoke of a land called " Beimini " where the fountain could be found.

The second version is a legend about a Taíno woman called María that, during the Spanish colonization, fell in love with a Spanish soldier.

Ojeda only had fifteen men at his command in his search of the Cibao region of the island, which was controlled by the warlike Taíno cacique called Caonabo.

Archaeological evidence, including ceremonial stools called duhos, shows that the Lucayan Taíno tribe settled on Long Island, probably in the island's cave system.

The indigenous Taíno people called it the Iguaca, an onomatopoeic name that resembled the parrots ' flight call.

Around AD 600, the Taíno Indians, an Arawak culture, arrived on the island, displacing the previous inhabitants.

Around AD 600, the Taíno Indians, an Arawak culture, arrived on the island, displacing the previous inhabitants.

D ' Anghiera added another name, Quizqueia ( supposedly " Mother of all Lands "), but later research shows that the word does not seem to derive from the original Arawak Taíno language.

The island was inhabited by the Taíno, one of the indigenous Arawak peoples.

Spanish settlement and a more warlike population than was found among their Taíno Arawak kin in the Greater Antilles.

Many Arawak / Taíno names and words are used in daily conversation and for many foods native to the DR.

It is a creole based largely on 18th Century French, some African languages, as well as Arabic, Spanish, Taíno, Arawak and English.

* 1492-Christopher Columbus ( 1451 – 1506 ), backed by Spain, reaches San Salvador Island ( Guanahani to the natives ), " discovering the New World " and encountering Arawak and Taíno people.