Posted By Juan Fernando Montes Alcaide
Jamaica is regarded as a cultural melting pot due to its unique history and the racial diversity that has contributed to the country's cultural heritage.
One such group that is often overlooked are the Tainos, who are featured on the country's Coat of Arms. The Tainos were the first inhabitants of Jamaica. They would have migrated from South America and reached the Greater Antilles somewhere around 700 to 1000 AD.
Most people are more familiar with the name Arawak, we now believe that these groups of people were Arawak speaking people so Arawak refers to a group of languages spoken by these people and you had different groups of Arawak speaking people in the Greater Antilles.
In appearance the Taino were short and muscular and had a brown olive complexion and straight hair. They wore little clothes but decorated their bodies with dyes. Religion was a very important aspect of their lives and they were mainly an agricultural people although they did have some technological innovations. Today, some of their practices and different aspects of their culture such as their language, and food, are still in use in Jamaica.
The Tainos had no system of writing. What we know about the Tainos comes from archaeological finds, rock and stone art. They were artists and they made a number of drawings in caves. We would have also learned from the writings of the Spaniards who encountered them, as subjective as those writings may be.
As the language of first contact, Taíno was one of the most important sources of Native American vocabulary in Spanish, involving hundreds of words for unfamiliar plants, animals, and cultural practices, and through Spanish to other European languages such as English. English words of Taíno derivation include canoe, potato, cay/key, barbecue, hurricane, hammock, maize, cassava, Caribbean,cannibal, Cuba, Jamaica, Bahamas, iguana, savannah, papaya/pawpaw, guava, yucca, maguey, manatee, mangrove, chigger, and maybe tobacco.
Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ta%C3%ADno_language http://www.uctp.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=228&Itemid=2
As the language of first contact, Taíno was one of the most important sources of Native American vocabulary in Spanish, involving hundreds of words for unfamiliar plants, animals, and cultural practices, and through Spanish to other European languages such as English. English words of Taíno derivation include canoe, potato, cay/key, barbecue, hurricane, hammock, maize, cassava, Caribbean,cannibal, Cuba, Jamaica, Bahamas, iguana, savannah, papaya/pawpaw, guava, yucca, maguey, manatee, mangrove, chigger, and maybe tobacco.
Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ta%C3%ADno_language http://www.uctp.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=228&Itemid=2
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