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Cuba was home to about 60,000 Taíno at the time of the first contact with Europeans. On October 28, 1492, during his first voyage to the New World, Christopher Columbus landed along the northeastern coast of Cuba. Columbus claimed the island for the king and queen of Spain, in whose service he was exploring. He called the island La Isla Juana. That name didn’t stick, however. Modifying a Taíno word (scholars today disagree on which one), the Spanish would soon begin calling the island Cuba. For nearly two decades after Columbus’s first voyage, the Spanish paid little attention to Cuba. But in 1511, the conquis- tador Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar mounted an expedition from the neighboring island of Hispaniola, where a Spanish colony had been established. Over the next several years, Velázquez and the more than 300 Spanish soldiers under his command ruthlessly subjugated Cuba’s indigenous people. Along the way, Velázquez founded a number of Spanish towns and settle- ments. In Cuba, as in other Spanish colonies, the indigenous peo- ple were compelled to work for their conquerors. Under what

Did You Know? A variety of Taíno words found their way into the Spanish language. Some would later pass from Spanish into English. These words include barbacoa (barbecue), canoa (canoe), hamaca (hammock), and tabaco (tobacco).

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The Culture and People of Cuba