9781422279809

Taíno artifacts are preserved in museums in Cuba and other Caribbean islands where this Native American tribe flourished before the arrival of the Spanish. The Taíno no longer exist as a distinct tribal population. However, because the early Spanish settlers and Native Americans often intermarried, many Cubans today have Taíno (or mestizo) ancestry.

Encomenderos in Cuba forced the Taíno people to mine gold and grow crops to feed the Spaniards. Overwork, an inability to cultivate enough food for themselves, and violence at the hands of the Spaniards took a big toll on the Taíno pop- ulation. So did diseases to which the indigenous people had no natural immunity—in particular, smallpox. By the mid-1500s, only a few hundred Taíno remained in Cuba. Nevertheless, the influence of the once-numerous people

10

The Culture and People of Cuba