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TAINO
First people of the Caribbean

Before Christopher Columbus sailed here on the ocean blue in 14 hundred 92 and did the things he did, the original Taino (Arawak) inhabitants had an incredible mythology with its own gods and spirits known as "Zemi".

To this day, these original Caribbean myths are part of the cultural heritage of the region.

The Taino played a rubber ball game very similar to Native Mexican Pok-A-Tok and had agricultrual systems similar to that practiced in tropical South America from which some say their ancestors came over 2000 Before the Christian Era.

Besides the Taino of the Greater Antilles (Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and Jamaica), there were also the Carib of the Lesser Antilles (The Virgin Islands, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, St. Kitts and Nevis, Dominica, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Barbados, Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and St. Lucia).

Unlike the more peaceful and spohisticated Taino, the Carib were more simple and warlike.

The word "cannibal" comes from the Carib after one of the more gruesome aspects of their culture, which played an important role in their mythology and spirituality.

In the beginning, the goddess Atabey appeared out of nothingness, and created all of the other gods and the land.

The Five Eras of Taino Creation

  1. Creation of the World

  2. Creation of the First People

  3. Humankind becomes civilized

  4. Taino culture develops

  5. Invasion of Columbus

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Columbus, by the way, was arrested by his own government for the terrible things he did.

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The Taino had the last laugh!

The Taino live on in the cultural heritage of the Caribbean.

There are even Taino revivalist movements today, which I seriously hope will lead to the creation of a new religion based on worship of the Taino gods.

Commonly used words of Taino origin
Barbecue
Hammock
Canoe
Iguana
Papaya
Tobacco
Cassava

Maize
(That's right; only the Taino called it maize)

Caribbean islands with Taino names
Jamaica
Haiti
Cuba

Puerto Ricans call themselves "Boricua" after the Taino name for Puerto Rico, which means "the land of the noble and valiant lord"

After the Taino and Carib were eliminated by diseases and mass unaliving brought by Columbus and his ilk (who also had their way with the Native womenfolk, leaving the modern Hispanic Caribbean people with Taino ancestry through female lineages), the European colonists populated the Caribbean Islands with enslaved Africans.

The new traditions created by the enslaved African people in the post-Taino Caribbean can be viewed on the Latin American/Caribbean webpage of this website.

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(James Pederson, the creator of Mythology Worlds)

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