section_path: South America/Taíno
section_name: Taíno
paragraph_text: Taíno
  
  The Taíno people were fragmented into numerous chiefdoms across the Greater Antilles, the Lucayan Archipelago, and the northern Lesser Antilles. The Taíno were the first pre-Columbian people to encounter Christopher Columbus during his voyage in 1492. The Taíno would later be subject to slavery by the Spanish colonists under the encomienda system until they were deemed virtually extinct in 1565.