Taíno
The Taíno are an Indigenous people of the Greater Antilles and Bahamas whose societies Europeans encountered in the late fifteenth century.
Greater Antilles: The Caribbean island group comprising Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico, along with smaller islands. These large islands were central to Taíno settlement and regional exchange.
Conuco: A cultivated mound used in Caribbean agriculture, especially for growing cassava. Taíno farmers used conucos to improve drainage and sustain staple crops.
Ortoiroid people: An archaeological population associated with some of the earliest known human settlements in the Caribbean. Their remains provide context for the region's much earlier settlement history.
Columbus's first voyage: Christopher Columbus's 1492 expedition across the Atlantic, which reached the Caribbean. Its arrival initiated sustained European contact with Taíno communities.
Lucayan Archipelago: The Atlantic island chain that includes the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands. Taíno-speaking Lucayan communities inhabited the Bahamas before European colonization.
Cassava: A tropical root crop whose starchy roots are processed into food. Cassava bread was a major Taíno food and a durable source of provisions.
Saladoid culture: An archaeological culture that spread from northeastern South America through the Caribbean beginning around 500 BCE. Saladoid migrations and traditions contributed to later Caribbean societies, including Taíno communities.
Encomienda: A Spanish colonial system granting colonists claims to Indigenous labor and tribute. Encomienda imposed forced labor and tribute on Taíno populations.
Taíno language: An Arawakan language once spoken across parts of the Caribbean, now extinct as a community language. Its words preserve evidence of Taíno life and entered several European languages.
Casabe: A thin, dry bread made from processed cassava, traditionally across the Caribbean. Taíno communities transformed cassava into casabe for everyday meals and storage.