Taino

The Taíno were an indigenous people of the Caribbean. At the time of European contact in the late fifteenth

century, they were the principal inhabitants of most of Cuba, Hispaniola (the Dominican Republic and Haiti), Jamaica, Puerto Rico, The Bahamas and the northern Lesser Antilles. The Taíno were the first New World peoples to be encountered by Christopher Columbus during his 1492 voyage. They spoke the Taíno language, an Arawakan language.

Influence on Voodoo
Taino had an influence on both Haitian and Dominican Vudu. The Taino provided sanctuary in the mountains of the island when slaves escaped their masters. Several deities in Domincian Vudu are Taino ancestral spirits.