Taíno

Taíno
Statue of Agüeybaná II, "El Bravo"
in Ponce, Puerto Rico[1]
Regions with significant populations
Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Bahamas
Languages
English, Spanish, French, Dutch, Creole languages
Taíno (historically)
Religion
Taíno (historically)
Related ethnic groups
Lokono, Kalinago, Garifuna, Igneri, Guanahatabey, Arawak

The Taíno are the Indigenous peoples of the Greater Antilles and surrounding islands.[2][3] At the time of European contact in the late 15th century, they were the principal inhabitants of most of what is now The Bahamas, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, and the northern Lesser Antilles. The Lucayan branch of the Taíno were the first New World people encountered by Christopher Columbus, in the Bahama Archipelago on October 12, 1492. The Taíno historically spoke an Arawakan language. Granberry and Vescelius (2004) recognized two varieties of the Taino language: "Classical Taino", spoken in Puerto Rico and most of Hispaniola, and "Ciboney Taino", spoken in the Bahamas, most of Cuba, western Hispaniola, and Jamaica.[4] They lived in agricultural societies ruled by caciques with fixed settlements and a matrilineal system of kinship and inheritance. Taíno religion centered on the worship of zemis.[5] The Taíno are sometimes also referred to as Island Arawaks or Antillean Arawaks.[6][7] Indigenous people in the Greater Antilles did not refer to themselves originally as Taíno; the term was first explicitly used in this sense by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque in 1836.[6][8]

Historically, anthropologists and historians believed that the Taíno were no longer extant centuries ago,[9][10][11] or that they gradually merged into a common identity with African and Hispanic cultures.[12] Scholarly attitudes to Taíno survival and resurgence began to change around the year 2000.[13] Many people today identify as Taíno and many more have Taíno descent, most notably in Puerto Rico, Cuba, and Dominica.[14][15][16] A substantial number of Puerto Ricans, Cubans, and Dominicans have Indigenous mitochondrial DNA, which may suggest Taíno descent through the direct female line, especially in Puerto Rico.[17][18] While some communities describe an unbroken cultural heritage passed down through the generations, often in secret, others are revivalist communities who seek to incorporate Taíno culture into their lives.[11][19]

  1. ^ Eli D. Oquendo-Rodríguez. Pablo L. Crespo-Vargas, editor. A Orillas del Mar Caribe: Boceto histórico de la Playa de Ponce - Desde sus primeros habitantes hasta principios del siglo XX. First edition. June, 2017. Editorial Akelarre. Centro de Estudios e Investigaciones del Sur Oeste de Puerto Rico (CEISCO). Lajas, Puerto Rico. Page 15. ISBN 978-1547284931
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference :12 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ "Taino, n. & adj.", Oxford English Dictionary (3 ed.), Oxford University Press, 2023-03-02, doi:10.1093/oed/5528858803, retrieved 2024-09-24, A member of an Indigenous people inhabiting the Greater Antilles and the Bahamas at the time of the arrival of Columbus. In recent use also as a self-designation by people of Caribbean origin descended from this Indigenous people.
    "Native Knowledge 360° | Frequently Asked Questions". americanindian.si.edu. Retrieved 2025-06-10. Who are the Taíno? Arawak-speaking peoples from South America began settling the Caribbean islands more than 2,000 years ago. Their descendants, the Taíno, reside on the Greater Antilles and surrounding islands. The Spanish first recorded the term Taíno in 1493. Today many Caribbean people with Native ancestry embrace calling themselves Taíno.
    "Taínos & Caribbean Indigenous Peoples | ORIAS". orias.berkeley.edu. Retrieved 2025-06-10. Taínos: Main cultural group in the Caribbean's Greater Antilles during 1200-1500 CE. Taínos are descendants of the South American Arawak population, and evolved from the earlier Osteonoid population, with Saladoid influence. Many times, Taíno is used to refer to pre-Taíno groups.
  4. ^ Adelaar, Willem F. H. (2009). "Review of Languages of the Pre-Columbian Antilles". International Journal of American Linguistics. 75 (2): 276. doi:10.1086/598773. eISSN 1545-7001. ISSN 0020-7071. JSTOR 10.1086/598773.
  5. ^ Rouse 1992, p. 13–15.
  6. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Oliver2009 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ "Taino Facts | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2025-06-10.
  8. ^ Oxford English Dictionary, “Taino (n. & adj.), Etymology,” September 2024, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/2016888483.
  9. ^ "Genes of 'extinct' Caribbean islanders found in living people". www.science.org. Retrieved 2022-10-23.
  10. ^ Poole, Robert M. (October 2011). "What Became of the Taíno?". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 2022-10-23.
  11. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference History 2019 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ Rouse 1992, pp. 161–164.
  13. ^ Forte, Maximilian Christian (2006). "Introduction: The Dual Absences of Extinction and Marginality—What Difference Does an Indigenous Presence Make?" (PDF). In Forte, Maximilian Christian (ed.). Indigenous resurgence in the contemporary Caribbean: Amerindian survival and revival. New York: Peter Lang. pp. 1–17. ISBN 978-0-8204-7488-5.
  14. ^ "Taino | History & Culture | Britannica". www.britannica.com. 2024-09-17. Retrieved 2024-09-24.
  15. ^ "The Taíno were written off as extinct. Until now". Newsweek. 20 February 2018. Archived from the original on 2018-05-08. Retrieved 19 May 2018.
  16. ^ Forte, Maximilian Christian (2006). "Introduction: The Dual Absences of Extinction and Marginality—What Difference Does an Indigenous Presence Make?" (PDF). In Forte, Maximilian Christian (ed.). Indigenous resurgence in the contemporary Caribbean: Amerindian survival and revival. New York: Peter Lang. pp. 1–17. ISBN 978-0-8204-7488-5.
  17. ^ Schroeder, Hannes; Sikora, Martin; Gopalakrishnan, Shyam; Cassidy, Lara M.; Maisano Delser, Pierpaolo; Sandoval Velasco, Marcela; Schraiber, Joshua G.; Rasmussen, Simon; Homburger, Julian R.; Ávila-Arcos, María C.; Allentoft, Morten E. (2018-03-06). "Origins and genetic legacies of the Caribbean Taino". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 115 (10): 2341–2346. Bibcode:2018PNAS..115.2341S. doi:10.1073/pnas.1716839115. PMC 5877975. PMID 29463742. The Taino and masked Puerto Ricans form a clade that branches off the South American lineage. [...] we find that the native component in present-day Puerto Rican genomes is closely related to the ancient Taino, demonstrating an element of continuity between precontact populations and present-day Latino populations in the Caribbean despite the disruptive effects of European colonization.
  18. ^ Poole, Robert M. (October 2011). "What Became of the Taíno". Smithsonian Magazine. Archived from the original on November 5, 2018. Retrieved November 3, 2018. ...a recent nationwide genetic study established that 15 percent to 18 percent of Dominicans had Amerindian markers in their mitochondrial DNA, testifying to the continued presence of Taíno genes. [...] [Juan C. Martínez Cruzado] reported that 61.1 percent of those surveyed had mitochondrial DNA of indigenous origin, indicating a persistence in the maternal line that surprised him and his fellow scientists. [...] With [Alejandro Hartmann Matos], [José Barreiro] has been tracking Indigenous descendants since 1989. Based on their research, the pair estimate that at least 5,000 Natives survive in Cuba, while hundreds of thousands likely have indigenous roots.
  19. ^ Curet, Antonio L. (Spring 2015). "Indigenous Revival, Indigeneity, and the Jíbaro in Borikén". Centro Journal. 27: 206–247.
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