Cuban Pre-Spanish History

Pre-Spanish Cuba

It is believed that the first inhabitants, who arrived on the island about 2000 years B.C., were the Guanatabeyes, a nomadic tribe that inhabited coastal areas. They possessed primitive stone and wooden instruments and little is known about their culture. Originating from what is today known as the region around Venezuela, the Siboneyes arrived in Cuba, some 200 years B.C. and settle the vast majority of the Cuban territory, including the islets. At the beginning, the Siboneyes were hunters, gatherers and fishermen though eventually they acquired knowledge on ceramics and agriculture from the Tainos.

From the year 300 A.D. on, the Tainos settled in Cuba and the nearby Caribbean islands; they were a branch of the Arawaks coming from the northern regions of South America. Not only possessing greater agricultural skills, more sophisticated instruments and weapons, the Tainos developed religious practices and social structures. Shortly after arriving to the island, the Tainos began to push the Siboneyes westwards.

The Tainos´ agriculture was based on corn, sweet potatoes, yucca, tobacco and fruits. They lived in caneyes, round huts made from wood and thatched with palm leaves, arranged around the caneye belonging to chief (Cacique) of the tribe (a similar type of constriction is still observed in the Cuban countryside). Beside sports, music and dancing, religious practices included tobacco smoking which was considered a link to their gods. The early Spaniards despised smoking, but adopted it some time later. Despite the total extermination of theses cultures, the huts, hammocks and some musical instruments and words like hurricane (used to name the god of evil), have survived into modern times.