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This article is about the Taíno people. For the language, see Taíno language. For other uses, see Taíno (disambiguation).
Total population
Ancestral to mestizo population
Regions with significant populations
Puerto Rico, Hispaniola, Cuba, Bahamas, Jamaica
Taíno language, later Spanish, French, English, Creole
Indigenous, later Christianity

The Taíno were an Arawak people who were one of the major indigenous peoples of the Caribbean. At the time of European contact in the late 15th century, they were the principal inhabitants of most of Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola (presently Haiti and the Dominican Republic), and Puerto Rico in the Greater Antilles, the northern Lesser Antilles, and the Bahamas, where they were known as the Lucayans. They spoke the Taíno language, one of the Arawakan languages.


At the time of Columbus' arrival in 1492, there were five Taíno chiefdoms and territories on Hispaniola (modern-day Dominican Republic and Haiti), each led by a principal Cacique (chieftain), to whom tribute was paid. Ayiti ("land of high mountains") was the indigenous Taíno name for the mountainous side of the island of Hispaniola, which has kept its name as it is used as the Haitian Creole form for Haiti.

Cuba, the largest island of the Antilles, was originally divided into 29 chiefdoms. Most of the native settlements later became the site of Spanish colonial cities retaining the original Taíno names, for instance; Havana, Batabanó, Camagüey, Baracoa and Bayamo.[1] The name Cuba comes from the Taíno language; however the exact meaning of the name is unclear but it may be translated either as "where fertile land is abundant" (cubao), or "great place" (coabana).

Puerto Rico also was divided into chiefdoms. As the hereditary head chief of Taíno tribes, the cacique was paid significant tribute. At the time of the Spanish conquest, the largest Taíno population centers may have contained over 3,000 people each.[citation needed]

The Taíno were historically enemies of the neighboring Carib tribes, another group with origins in South America, who lived principally in the Lesser Antilles.[2] The relationship between the two groups has been the subject of much study. For much of the 15th century, the Taíno tribe was being driven to the northeast in the Caribbean (out of what is now South America) because of raids by the Carib. Women were taken as captives, resulting in many Carib women speaking Taíno.[3]

The Spaniards, who first arrived in the Bahamas, Cuba, and Hispaniola in 1492, and later in Puerto Rico, did not bring women in the first expeditions. They took Taíno women for their common-law wives, resulting in mestizo children.[4] Sexual violence in Haiti with the Taíno women by the Spanish was also common.[5][6] Scholars suggest there was substantial mestizaje (racial and cultural mixing) in Cuba, as well, and several Indian pueblos survived into the 19th century.

The Taíno became extinct as a culture following settlement by Spanish colonists, primarily due to infectious diseases to which they had no immunity. The first recorded smallpox outbreak in Hispaniola occurred in December 1518 or January 1519.[7] The 1518 smallpox epidemic killed 90% of the natives who had not already perished.[8] Warfare and harsh enslavement by the colonists had also caused many deaths.[9] By 1548, the native population had declined to fewer than 500.[9]


Reconstruction of a Taíno village in Cuba

The Taíno people, or Taíno culture, has been classified by some authorities as belonging to the Arawak, as they were descended from the same language family. The early ethnohistorian, Daniel Garrison Brinton, called these the "Island Arawak." The name was derived from the Arawakan word for cassava flour, a staple of their diet. The Arawakan language family is made up of languages that were present throughout the Caribbean, and much of Central and South America.

Contemporary scholars have recognized that the Taíno had developed a distinct language and culture. Taíno and Arawak were often used interchangeably by writers, travelers, historians, linguists, and anthropologists. Taíno has been used to mean the Greater Antillean tribes only, or including the Bahamian tribes, or adding the Leeward Islands tribes, or all those excluding the Puerto Rican and Leeward tribes. Island Taíno has been used to refer to those living in the Windward Islands only, those in the northern Caribbean only, or those living in any of the islands.

Modern historians, linguists and anthropologists now hold that the term Taíno should refer to all the Taíno/Arawak tribes except for the Caribs. The Caribs are not seen by anthropologists or historians as being the same people. Linguists continue to debate whether the Carib language is an Arawakan dialect or creole language—or perhaps an individual language, with an Arawakan pidgin often used to communicate.

Rouse classifies all inhabitants of the Greater Antilles (except the western tip of Cuba), the Bahamian archipelago, and the northern Lesser Antilles as Taíno. He subdivides the Taíno into three main groups: Classic Taíno, mostly from Haiti, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic; Western Taíno or sub-Taíno, from Jamaica, Cuba (except for the western tip) and the Bahamian archipelago; and Eastern Taíno, from the Virgin Islands to Montserrat.



  • The alternate theory, known as the circum-Caribbean theory, contends that the ancestors of the Taíno diffused from the Colombian Andes. Julian H. Steward, who originated this concept, suggests a migration from the Andes to the West Indies and a parallel migration into Central America and into the Guianas, Venezuela, and the Amazon Basin of South America.[10]

Taíno culture as documented is believed to have developed in the West Indies. The Taíno creation story says that they emerged from caves in a sacred mountain on present-day Hispaniola.[13] In Puerto Rico, 21st century studies have shown a high proportion of people having Amerindian MtDNA. Of the two major haplotypes found, one does not exist in the Taíno ancestral group, so other Amerindian people are also part of this genetic ancestry.[11]


Dujo, a wooden chair crafted by Taínos.

Taíno society was divided into two classes: naborias (commoners) and mitaínos (nobles). These were governed by chiefs known as caciques (who were male), who were advised by priests/healers known as bohiques. Caciques enjoyed the privilege of wearing golden pendants called guanín, living in square bohíos, instead of the round ones of ordinary villagers, and sitting on wooden stools to be above the guests they received.[14] Bohiques were extolled for their healing powers and ability to speak with gods. They were consulted and granted the Taíno permission to engage in important tasks.






Caguana Ceremonial ball court (batey), outlined with stones.

The Taíno played a ceremonial ball game called batey. Opposing teams had 10 to 30 players per team and used a solid rubber ball. Normally, the teams were composed of men, but occasionally women played the game as well.[16] The Classic Taíno played in the village's center plaza or on especially designed rectangular ball courts called batey. Games on the batey are believed to have been used for conflict resolution between communities. The most elaborate ball courts are found at chiefdoms' boundaries.[17] Often, chiefs made wagers on the possible outcome of a game.[16]



Food and agriculture[edit]

Cassava (yuca) roots, the Taínos' main crop


Due to this lack of larger sized game in the area, the Taíno people became very skilled fishermen. One technique used while fishing was to hook a remora, also known as a suckerfish, to a line secured to a canoe and wait for the fish to attach itself to a larger fish or even a sea turtle. Once this happened, men would jump into the water and bring in their assisted catch. Another method used by the Taínos was to take shredded stems and roots of poisonous senna shrubs and throw them into nearby streams or rivers. Upon eating the bait, the fish were stunned just long enough to allow the fishermen to gather them in. This poison did not affect the edibility of the fish. Taíno tribesmen, mostly young boys, also collected mussels and oysters in shallow waters and within the mangroves.[19]


Contrary to mainland practices, corn was not ground into flour and baked into bread. It was cooked and eaten off the cob. Corn bread becomes moldy faster than cassava bread in the high humidity of the West Indies. Corn was also used to make an alcoholic beverage known as chicha.[21] The Taíno grew squash, beans, peppers, peanuts, and pineapples. Tobacco, calabashes (West Indian pumpkins) and cotton were grown around the houses. Other fruits and vegetables, such as palm nuts, guavas, and Zamia roots, were collected from the wild.[20]


Taíno zemí sculpture from Walters Art Museum.

Taíno religion centered on the worship of zemís. A zemí (cemí) is a god, spirit, or ancestor. The major Taíno gods are Yúcahu and Atabey. Yúcahu,[22] which means spirit of cassava, was the god of cassava (the Taínos' main crop) and the sea. Atabey,[23] mother of Yúcahu, was the goddess of the Moon, fresh waters and fertility.[18]



Lombards Museum




Taíno also modified or decorated their bodies to express their religion. The higher the piercing or tattoo on the body, the closer to their gods. Men usually wore decorative tattoos and the women usually had piercings.



Spaniards and Taíno[edit]


Columbus wrote:






In Hispaniola, a Taíno chieftain named Enriquillo mobilized over 3,000 Taíno in a successful rebellion in the 1520s. These Taíno were accorded land and a charter from the royal administration. Despite the small Spanish military presence in the region, they often used diplomatic divisions and, with help from powerful native allies, controlled most of the region.[33][34] In exchange for a seasonal salary, religious and language education, the Taíno were required to work for Spanish and Indian land owners. This system of forced labor was part of the encomienda.

Population decline[edit]

Early population estimates of Hispaniola, probably the most populous island inhabited by Taínos, range from 100,000 to 1,000,000 people. The maximum estimates for Jamaica and Puerto Rico are 600,000 people.[35] The Spanish priest Bartolomé de Las Casas (who was living in the Dominican Republic at the time) wrote in his 1561 multi-volume History of the Indies:[36]


Researchers today doubt Las Casas's figures for the pre-contact levels of the Taíno population, considering them an exaggeration. For example, Anderson Córdova estimates a maximum of 500,000 people inhabiting the island.[37] The Taíno population estimates range all over, from a few hundred thousand up to 8,000,000.[38] They had no resistance to Old World diseases, notably smallpox.[39] The encomienda system brought many Taíno to work in the fields and mines in exchange for Spanish protection,[40] education, and a seasonal salary.[41] Under the pretense of searching for gold and other materials,[42] many Spaniards took advantage of the regions now under control of the anaborios and Spanish encomenderos to exploit the native population by stealing their land and wealth. It would take some time before the Taíno revolted against their oppressors — both Indian and Spanish alike — and many military campaigns before Emperor Charles V eradicated the encomienda system as a form of slavery.[43][44]

In thirty years, between 80% and 90% of the Taíno population died.[45] Because of the increased number of people (Spanish) on the island, there was a higher demand for food. Taíno cultivation was converted to Spanish methods. In hopes of frustrating the Spanish, some Taínos refused to plant or harvest their crops. The supply of food became so low in 1495 and 1496 that some 50,000 died from the severity of the famine.[46] Historians have determined that the massive decline was due more to infectious disease outbreaks than any warfare or direct attacks.[47][48] By 1507 their numbers had shrunk to 60,000. Scholars believe that epidemic disease (smallpox, influenza, measles, and typhus) was the overwhelming cause of the population decline of the indigenous people.[49][50][51]

Taíno heritage in modern times[edit]

Taíno girls at the Dominican carnival in garments and makeup (2005)

Many people identify as descendants of the Taíno, most notably among the Puerto Ricans and Dominicans, both on the islands and on the United States mainland. The concept of "living Taíno" has proved controversial. The people and society were long declared extinct.[52]

Some scholars, such as Jalil Sued Badillo, an ethnohistorian at the University of Puerto Rico, assert that the official Spanish historical record speak of the disappearance of the Taínos. Certainly[citation needed] there are some full-blood Taíno people alive today, but survivors had descendants and intermarried with other ethnic groups. Recent research notes a high percentage of mestizo and tri-racial ancestry among people in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, with most Taino descendants also having Spanish and African ancestry.

Frank Moya Pons, a Dominican historian, documented that Spanish colonists intermarried with Taíno women. Over time, some of their mestizo descendants intermarried with Africans, creating a tri-racial Creole culture. 1514 census records reveal that 40% of Spanish men in the Dominican Republic had Taíno wives.[52] Ethnohistorian Lynne Guitar writes that Taíno were declared extinct in Spanish documents as early as the 16th century; however, individual Taíno natives kept appearing in wills and legal records in the ensuing years.[52]

Anthropologist and archaeologist Dr. Pedro J. Ferbel Azacarate writes that Taíno and Africans lived in isolated Maroon communities, evolving into a rural population with predominantly Taíno cultural influences, as they had the advantage of knowing the native habitat. Ferbel documents that even contemporary rural Dominicans retain Taíno linguistic features, agricultural practices, foodways, medicine, fishing practices, technology, architecture, oral history, and religious views. However, these cultural traits are often looked down upon by urbanites as being backwards.[52] "It's surprising just how many Taíno traditions, customs, and practices have been continued," says David Cintrón, who wrote his graduate thesis on the Taíno revitalization movement. "We simply take for granted that these are Puerto Rican or Cuban practices and never realize that they are Taíno."[53]

A 2002 study conducted in Puerto Rico suggests that over 61% of the population possess Amerindian mtDNA.[54] Other studies indicate a wider range. Juan Carlos Martínez, a biology professor at the University of Puerto Rico who conducted his own mtDNA studies, says, "Our results suggest that our genetic inheritance of indigenous origin can't be very low and could be even higher than the inheritance from the other two races (Caucasoid and Negroid)."[55] On average Puerto Ricans possess approximately 10-15% Native American MtDNA, most of it Taíno in origin; it is mixed into the genome in short pieces, consistent with a single short period of unions between the races several hundred years ago.[56] Haplotypes A and C have been found, indicating more than Taíno Amerindian ancestry, as their ancestral group, the Yanomama, do not have haplotype A.[11][12]

Heritage groups, such as the Jatibonicu Taíno Tribal Nation of Borikén (Puerto Rico) (1970), the Taíno Nation of the Antilles (1993), United Confederation of Taíno People (1998) and El Pueblo Guatu Ma-Cu A Borikén Puerto Rico (2000), have been established to foster Taíno culture. However, it is controversial as to whether these Heritage Groups represent Taíno culture accurately. Some Taíno groups have been known to 'adopt' other native traditions. Many aspects of Taíno culture have been lost and/or creolized with Spaniard and African cultures over time on the Caribbean Islands. People who claim to be of native descent in the islands of Puerto Rico, Hispaniola and Eastern Cuba have been trying to maintain cultural connection with their historic identities. Antonio de Moya, a Dominican educator, wrote in 1993, "the [Indian] genocide is the big lie of our history... the Dominican Taínos continue to live, 500 years after European contact."[57]

Taíno activists have created two unique writing scripts. The scripts are used to write Spanish, not a retained language from pre-Columbian ancestors.[58] The organization Guaka-kú teaches and uses their script among their own members. The LGTK (Liga Guakía Taína-ké) has promoted teaching their script among elementary and middle school students to strengthen their interest in Taíno identity.

See also[edit]


  1. ^ Art and Archaeology of Pre-Columbian Cuba
  3. ^ 1492 and Multiculturalism. Archive copy at the Wayback Machine[dead link]
  4. ^ Guitat, Lynne. "Criollos: The Birth of a Dynamic New Indo-Afro-European People and Culture on Hispaniola.". KACIKE: Journal of Caribbean Amerindian History and Anthropology. Archived from the original on 2 December 2008. Retrieved 27 May 2011. 
  5. ^ Léger 1907, p. 23.
  6. ^ Accilien et al. 2003, p. 12.
  8. ^ Abbot 2010.
  9. ^ a b Chrisp 2006, p. 34.
  10. ^ a b Rouse, pp. 30–48.
  11. ^ a b c "Mitochondrial DNA analysis reveals substantial Native American ancestry in Puerto Rico", Hum Biol. 2001 Aug;73(4):491-511, at National Library of Medicine, NIH
  13. ^ Rouse, p. 16.
  14. ^ "Caciques, nobles and their regalia". elmuseo.org. Archived from the original on 2006-10-09. Retrieved 2006-11-09. 
  15. ^ Rouse, p. 15.
  16. ^ a b Alegría, p.348.
  17. ^ Rouse, p. 15
  18. ^ a b Rouse, p. 13.
  20. ^ a b c Rouse, p.12.
  21. ^ http://www.academia.edu/423889/Continuity_Cultural_Dynamics_and_Alcohol_The_Reinterpretation_of_Identity_through_Chicha_in_the_Andes
  24. ^ a b Rouse, p. 119.
  25. ^ Rouse, p. 121.
  26. ^ Rouse, pp. 13, 118.
  27. ^ Rouse, p. 118.
  28. ^ Rouse, p. 14.
  32. ^ By Anghiera Pietro Martire D'. De Orbe Novo, the Eight Decades of Peter Martyr D'Anghera. p. 143. Retrieved 31 July 2010. 
  35. ^ Rouse, p.7.
  36. ^ "Endless War of Domination". Student-Employee Assistance Program Against Chemical Dependency. Retrieved 2007-10-02. 
  39. ^ American Indian Epidemics
  52. ^ a b c d Ferbel, Dr. P. J. "Not Everyone Who Speaks Spanish is from Spain: Taíno Survival in the 21st Century Dominican Republic." Kacike: Journal of Caribbean Amerindian History and Anthropology. (orig. dead link) Retrieved on 24 Sept 2009.
  53. ^ Taliman, Valerie. "Taíno Nation alive and strong" Indian Country Today, 24 January 2001. Retrieved 24 Sept 2009.
  54. ^ Martínez Cruzado, Juan C. (2002). "The Use of Mitochondrial DNA to Discover Pre-Columbian Migrations to the Caribbean: Results for Puerto Rico and Expectations for the Dominican Republic" Kacike: The Journal of Caribbean Amerindian History and Anthropology. Lynne Guitar, Ed. (Date of access: 25 September 2006)
  55. ^ Ferrer, Melba. "UPR study finds high Taíno DNA rate: Tests contradict theory of extinction of P.R. natives", San Juan Star. 1 April 1999. Retrieved 24 Sept 2009.
  56. ^ Susan Young (2011-10-14). "Breathing life into an extinct ethnicity". Nature News. 
  57. ^ Antonio de Moya, E. (1993). "Animación sociocultural y polisíntesis en la transformación del sistema educativo Dominicano." La Revista de Educación. 1(2): 6-10.


  • Irving Rouse (1992). The Tainos: Rise and Decline of the People Who Greeted Columbus. Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-05696-6. 
  • Ricardo Alegría (April 1951). "The Ball Game Played by the Aborigines of the Antilles". American Antiquity 16 (4): 348–352. doi:10.2307/276984. 
  • "Shamanic Inebriants in South American Archaeology: Recent lnvestigations" Constantino M. Torres in Eleusis No. 5 (2001)

External links[edit]