The Lucayan Taino: First People of the Bahamas

When Christopher Columbus stepped ashore on the Lucayan island of Guanahani,

the people greeted him with gifts of parrots and cotton. They gave all they had.

Columbus later told Queen Isabella of Spain that these gentle, peaceful islanders

seemed poor in everything but blessed with an abundance of love. Within fifteen

years, the Spanish conquerors killed or enslaved everyone, depopulating the Lucayan

Islands. The same fate awaited untold millions of indigenous peoples in the

Caribbean Islands and Central and South America. The Lucayan Taino: First People

of the Bahamas is told from their perspective prior to European contact. It is a story

in words and paintings, told by Sandra Riley and Alton Lowe, about their culture and

connection to their natural and spiritual worlds. It is a story created by filmmaker

Travis Neff in his docudrama Full Circle: a Taino Story. It is a story told in bronze by

James Mastin as a memorial to the Taino. These works of art will endure as reminders

of the goodness and generosity of spirit that Columbus recognized from the moment

he first met the island people.