Arawak-speaking peoples from South America began settling the Caribbean islands more than 2,000 years ago. Their descendants, the Taíno, reside on the Greater Antilles and surrounding islands. The Spanish first recorded the term Taíno in 1493. 

Once the most numerous indigenous people of the Caribbean, the Taino may have numbered one or two million at the time of the Spanish conquest in the late 15th century. They had long been on the defensive against the aggressive Carib people, who had conquered the Lesser Antilles to the east. Thus the Arawak/Taíno had some weapons which they used in defense. They used the bow and arrow, and had developed some poisons for their arrow tips. They had cotton ropes for defensive purposes and some spears with fish hooks on the end. Since there were hardwoods on the island, they did have a war club made of macana. 

During the early 1500s, the Spanish reported large Taíno communities on all the islands between Cuba and Puerto Rico. Taíno peoples used the natural materials found in their environments to survive. They developed rich craft, food, music, and healing traditions.

When they were first encountered by Europeans, the Taíno practiced a high-yielding form of shifting agriculture to grow their staple foods, cassava and yams. They would burn the forest or scrub and then heap the ashes and soil into mounds that could be easily planted, tended, and irrigated. Corn (maize), beans, squash, tobacco, peanuts (groundnuts), and peppers were also grown, and wild plants were gathered. Birds, lizards, and small animals were hunted for food, the only domesticated animals being dogs and, occasionally, parrots used to decoy wild birds within range of hunters. Fish and shellfish were another important food source.