Columbus and the Taíno People of the Caribbean

When Nephi asked to have the same vision as that given to his father (1 Nephi 10:17), he was shown a broad visual history of the Land of Promise (1 Nephi 12:1-3), and eventually the final battle between his seed (Nephites) and the seed of his brethren (Lamanites), as well as the eventual occupation of the Land of Promise by the Gentiles (1 Nephi 13:14). In the course of this vision, Nephi saw the lands of the Gentiles (Europe) and the many waters (Atlantic Ocean) that separated them from the seed of his brethren (Lamanites) in the Land of Promise.

Columbus aboard the Santa Maria, plotting his course across the “many waters” to the “seed of my brethren who were in the promised land”

He also saw a Gentile who was separated from the Land of Promise and who was guided by the spirit of God to go “forth upon the many waters, even unto the seed of my brethren, who were in the promised land” (1 Nephi 13:12). Consequently, in knowing that this gentile Nephi saw in the vision was Christopher Columbus, then we can understand that the people Columbus first saw and met in the New World were the seed of Nephi’s brethren, or the Lamanites.
    According to the records of Columbus’ voyages, he first reached the Bahamas on October 12, 1492, when Rodrigo de Triana, a sailor aboard the Pinta, first sighted land—a small island that Columbus named San Salvador, though he learned later that the natives referred to it as Guanahani.
    While there is a debate regarding which island Columbus first made landfall between San Salvador, Samana Cay, Plana Cays or Grand Turk Island in the Bahamas, the point is these islands were occupied by a people at that time we call the Taíno. In fact, the Taíno were an indigenous people of the entire Caribbean, and at the time of Columbus, they were the principal inhabitants of most of Cuba, Hispaniola (Dominican Republic and Haiti), Jamaica, Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, and the northern Lesser Antilles, making them the first New World people Columbus encountered.

Before reaching Cuba on October 28, Columbus made landfall on and explored five islands in the modern-day Bahamas

In his entire first voyage, Columbus stayed within the area of the Bahamas, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti and Puerto Rico—the entire area where the Taíno made up almost the entire population of those islands.
    It should be noted that the ancestors of the Taíno originated in the Andes of South America, and the Taíno culture as documented developed after reaching the Caribbean. Most scholars contend that the ancestors of the Taíno came from the center of the Amazon Basin, and are related to the Yanomama, a small tribe of indigenous people who live today in the Amazon rainforest along the border of Venezuela and Brazil, who call themselves the Yanomawi. They live in villages usually consisting of their children and extended families, and number between 50 and 400 people. In this largely communal system, the entire village lives under a common roof called the shabonos, which circles the perimeter of the compound, that is not fortified by palisades.

A common shabono-covered compound of Yanomami

When migrating into the Caribbean, the Yanomama first moved into the Orinoco valley on the north coast, and from there they reached the Caribbean by way of what is now Guyana and Venezuela into Trinidad. From there they proceeded along the Lesser Antilles to Cuba and beyond to the Bahamian archipelago. Evidence that supports this theory includes the tracing of the ancestral cultures of these people to the Orinoco Valley and their languages to the Amazon Basin (Lorena Madrigal, Human Biology of Afro-Caribbean Populations, Cambridge University Press, 2006. p122).
    In addition, there are those scholars who consider the Yanomami diffused from the Colombian Andes, through the Guianas and Venzuela into the Caribbean as well as Central America. In any event, the first people Columbus visited in the New World and throughout all four of his voyages, were basically people who originated in South America.
    Once in the Caribbean, the Taíno groups were in conflict with the Island Caribs of the southern Lesser Antilles. At the time of contact, the Taíno were divided into several groups. Western Taíno groups included the Lucayans of the Bahamas, the Ciboney of central Cuba, and the inhabitants of Jamaica. The Classic Taíno lived in Hispaniola and Puerto Rico, while the Eastern Taíno lived in the northern islands of the Lesser Antilles.
    At the time of Columbus's arrival there were five Taíno chiefdoms in Hispaniola, each divided into two classes: naborias (commoners) and nitaínos (nobles), which were governed by male chiefs known as cacique (chief) through their mother’s noble line, and to whom tribute was paid. The Taíno name for Hispaniola was Ayiti ("land of high mountains"), which is the source of the name Haiti. Cuba at the time was divided into 29 chiefdoms, many of which have given their name to modern cities, including Havana, Batabanó, Camagüey, Bayamo, Taíno. Communities ranged from small settlements to larger centers of up to 3,000 people, and the overall population may have numbered 2 million at the time of contact.
    The nitaínos functioned as sub-caciques in villages, overseeing naborias work. Caciques were advised by priests/healers known as bohiques. Caciques enjoyed the privilege of wearing golden pendants called guanín, living in square bohíos, instead of the round ones of ordinary villagers, and sitting on wooden stools to be above the guests they received. Bohiques were extolled for their healing powers and ability to speak with deities. They were consulted and granted the Taíno permission to engage in important tasks.

The Taínos settled throughout the Caribbean, and occupied all the lands Columbus reached during his first voyage

The Taíno chiefdoms in the Caribbean were conquered by the Spanish in the late 15^th and early 16^th centuries, decimating the population—it is estimated that nearly 90% were killed, and by the end of the century they were considered extinct (Alfred W. Crosby, The Columbian Exchange, Westport, 1972, p47).
    It is interesting that the Taíno made up the vast majority if not the complete number of indigenous people that Columbus visited in the islands and possibly Central America. At the same time, their ancestors, the Yanomawi, who came from the area of the Orinoco Valley in South America, happens to be the same area of South America where Columbus landed along the Paria Peninsula and sailed up the Orinoco River in northwest Guyana.