The retrospective history of
the Native Caribbean

Hartford Web Publishing is not the author of the documents in World History Archives and does not presume to validate their accuracy or authenticity nor to release their copyright.

The history in general of the Native Caribbean

Pre-contact

Pottery in the Antilles

Athena Review, [20 October 2000]. The larger Caribbean islands, the Greater Antilles, were settled by Arawak-speaking tribes from South America from 100 BC onward. This era, the Neo-Indian period, is characterized by pottery and agriculture brought from the Orinoco region to Puerto Rico, Cuba, Jamaica, and Hispaniola (today's Haiti and the Dominican Republic).

Taino-Maya Contacts

By Francisco J. Gonzalez, 16 December 1996. The Taino people that inhabited the Greater Antilles (the islands of Puerto Rico, Cuba, Jamaica and Hispaniola), exhibit cultural traits not present among other Arawak-speaking peoples in their South American homeland that suggest Mayan contact. Among latter-day Toltecs, Aztecs, and Post-Classic Maya, we find possible Taino-Arawak traits.

Ciego de Avila: Hallan uno de los mayores sitios aborígenes del Caribe

By Ortelio González Martínez, Granma Diario, 11 de junio de 2001. Las más de mil piezas encontradas hasta ahora en el sitio arqueológico Los Buchillones, muy cercano al poblado avileño de Punta Alegre, confirman que en esa zona del litoral norte [of Cuba] existió uno de los mayores asentamientos aborígenes del Caribe, hace más de 1 700 años (in Spanish).

Explorers view lost city ruins under the sea off Cuba

By Andrew Cawthorne, Reuters, 6 December 2001. The discovery of a possible submerged lost city off the Guanahacabibes Peninsula of Western Cuba. The mysterious structures lay at the astounding depth of around 2,100 feet (650 meters) and are laid out like an urban area, and may date from at least 6,000 years ago.

Post-contact

Native American Activist Smashes San Jose City Hall Statue of Christopher Columbus, Revered Mass Murderer

By Becky Johnson, based on San Jose Mercury News, 9 March 2001. Justice activist James Cosner smashed a life-size statue of Christopher Columbus, shouting Genocide! This man rode our backs! This man murdered us!. The murderous history of Christopher Columbus.

King Ferdinand's letter to the Taino/Arawak Indians

Imperialism without any Pretence! By Bob Corbett. King Ferdinand's letter sent along with Columbus on his second voyage to Haiti, to be communicated to the Taino/Arawak Indians. The King wants the Indians to acknowledge the Christian religion and to accept the authority of the King of Spain.

What Shakespeare thought of the American Indian

By Louis Proyect, 6 December 1998. The evidence is overwhelming that Shakespeare not only set The Tempest on a Caribbean island, but included a native American major character. The play's ambivalent attitude toward this indigenous slave Caliban serves not only as a useful window into 17th century racial attitudes, it also helps us understand our own period as well. The influences on Melville.