Indigenous Jamaicans

The taíno were an indigenous people of the caribbean.

Indigenous jamaicans. The original inhabitants of jamaica were the indigenous taíno an arawak speaking people who began arriving on hispaniola by canoe from the belize and the yucatan peninsula sometime before 2000 bce. At the time of european contact in the late fifteenth century they were the principal inhabitants of most of cuba hispaniola the dominican republic and haiti jamaica puerto rico the bahamas and the northern lesser antilles the taíno were the first new world peoples to be encountered by christopher columbus during his 1492 voyage. For us the taínos and arawak are the indigenous tribes of jamaica and are considered our first people making them and their history a significant part of the jamaican story. Somewhere between 5 000 bc and 4 000 bc saw the arrival of the guanahatabey or ciboney people who followed a now submerged chain of small islands that used to run from the eastern yucatan through to cuba and jamaica.

From there they colonized the large islands like jamaica and the rest of the caribbean in conjunction with waves of indigenous people who had also sailed up from the orinoco amazon region of south. Jamaica dʒ ə ˈ m eɪ k ə is an island country situated in the caribbean sea spanning 10 990 square kilometres 4 240 sq mi in area it is the third largest island of the greater antilles and the caribbean after cuba and hispaniola. In 1494 columbus stole the island for spain and in 1509 juan de esquivel began transporting jamaican arawaks to hispaniola a k a haiti and the dominican republic as slaves. After christopher columbus and his spanish amigos visited.

They were tainos or arawaks peaceful natives that hunt and farm. Wiped out before the african slave trade. They were put to hard labour an. Jamaica lies about 145 kilometres 90 mi south of cuba and 191 kilometres 119 mi west of hispaniola the island containing the countries of.

The prehistory of jamaica saw three separate waves of colonization by amerindian peoples. Technically they are extinct. The constitution reflects the country s independence as a nation state and to this day remains the cornerstone of the island s legal systems and institutions. The jamaican constitution 1962 is the most fundamental legal document in the country guaranteeing the freedom rights and privileges of every jamaican citizen.

The taino arawaks among other tribes originated around the orinoco river in south america and moved toward the islands.