Arawak

The Arawak is a name applied to a family of indigenous peoples and their languages in the Americas. In common usage it refers to Arawak-speaking groups such as the Lokono of northern South America and the Taíno of the Caribbean, who spoke varieties of the Arawakan language family. The term thus covers both a linguistic group and several distinct communities.

Geographically, Lokono communities live in Guyana, Suriname, northern Brazil, southern Venezuela, and parts of French Guiana. The Taíno historically inhabited the Bahamas and the Greater Antilles, including Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, and Cuba. Their languages are part of the broader Arawakan family, one of the largest in the Americas; many Arawakan languages have become extinct, though some are still spoken today and have ongoing documentation and revival efforts.

Historically, Arawak-speaking peoples cultivated crops such as manioc (cassava), sweet potato, and maize, supplemented by fishing and hunting. They practiced agriculture on conucos, crafted pottery, and produced carved objects and zemí or cemi figures representing deities. In the Caribbean, Taíno communities developed ceremonial centers and, in some areas, a ball game known as batey played at central plazas.

The arrival of Europeans after 1492 led to drastic population declines due to disease, enslavement, and disruption of traditional lifeways. Today, Arawak-descended communities survive in several countries, with Lokono and Taíno heritage persisting through cultural memory, place names, and revival and language documentation efforts.