The first people that Columbus encountered in the Americas were the Taino, the native people of the larger Caribbean Islands.
The Taino met their downfall as quickly as Christopher Columbus did, at the hands of the same greedy Spanish.
Sadly, there are no longer any living Taino, though many Cubans, Puerto Ricans, and Dominicans of the Dominican Republic are their descendents.
Their language has not been spoken in centuries.
But many of their words are spoken today by hundreds of millions of English and Spanish speakers.
Barbecue, Caiman, Canoe, Cassava, Guava, Hammock, Hurricane, Iguana, Manatee, Mangrove, Potato and Savanna are all Taino words!
Jamaica, Cuba, Bahamas, and Haiti are all Taino names!
Caribbean is from the Taino word for their neighbors on the smaller Caribbean Islands, who we now know as the Carib people after the Spanish pronunciation of the Taino name for them!
Spanish has even more Taino words!
There is another Taino legacy in America today: Caribbean baseball!
All the famous baseball players from Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico!
This is because they are part descendents of the Taino, who played a version of the Mesoamerican Ballgame that used a stick and a smaller ball just like baseball does!
So here's to the Taino people!
We barely knew you, and yet you gave us so much!
What a sad fate!
We will remember you!
We will never forget you!
Here's to the memory of the Taino!
God loves you! Cry for the Taino! It's okay to cry!
Sincerely,
David S. Annderson