Tainos Essay

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08/02/2013 Taino (Arawak) Indians Study Guide & Homework Help - eNotes.com Study Guides and Lesson Plans Study smarter. Welcome, Guest! Background X Change background: Blackboard Green chalkboard Desk Sign In Join eNotes View Cart Search Q&A DISCUSSION QUIZZES TOPICS eBOOKS & DOCUMENTS FOR TEACHERS LITERATURE HISTORY SCIENCE MATH MORE SUBJECTS ARTS BUSINESS SOCIAL SCIENCES LAW AND POLITICS HEALTH JOIN eNOTES eNOTES PEOPLE Taino (Arawak) Indians eNotes Home > History > Taino (Arawak) Indians www.enotes.com/taino-arawak-indians-reference/taino-arawak-indians 1/7 08/02/2013 Taino (Arawak) Indians Study Guide & Homework Help - eNotes.com 1 Members Following Search Taino (Arawak) Indians Search Reference Q&A Discussion Taino (Arawak) Indians Print PDF Cite Like 17 The Taino, also known as the Arawaks, migrated from the Caribbean coast of South America, moving northward along the island chain of the lesser Antilles to the greater Antilles, around 1200 CE. They were agriculturalists whose basic food cropsorn, manioc, and beansere supplemented by hunting and fishing. By the time the Europeans first encountered the Taino in 1492, they dominated the islands of Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, most of Cuba, and the Bahamas, but they were coming under pressure from the more warlike Caribs of South America as they too moved northward through the lesser Antilles. The first expedition of Christopher Columbus brought an initial wave of Old World peoples to the Caribbean. Columbus was impressed by the beauty, peaceful nature, and agricultural techniques of the Taino, and often wrote about the richness and productivity of the land. Chieftains, assisted by elders, ruled the land, and groups were linked loosely by confederations. Columbus frequently boasted of large populations that seemed well off and, surprisingly for the Europeans, to have no money. The
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