taino

The indigenous people who inhabited the Bahamas and the Greater Antilles islands like Cuba, Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic), Puerto Rico, and Jamaica before Christopher Columbus and his crew ever set foot there. When they did, there were five large Taino territories. The Tainos were almost destroyed by the 18th century (from introduced diseases, and forced assimilation into the plantation economy that Spain imposed, with subsequent importation of African slaves. Also, the Spanish did not bring women with them, so many took Taino wives, and had metizo children.) But this doesn't mean there aren't any Tainos left. There are. Most are mixed with Black and European (mostly Spanish) ancestry, but only a handful of full blooded Tainos live on.