The Lucayan Taino

<p>When Christopher Columbus stepped ashore on the Lucayan island of Guanahaní,</p><p>the people greeted him with gifts of parrots and cotton. They gave all they had.</p><p>Columbus later told Queen Isabella of Spain that these gentle, peaceful islanders</p><p>seemed poor in everything but blessed with an abundance of love. Within fifteen</p><p>years, the Spanish conquerors killed or enslaved everyone, depopulating the Lucayan</p><p>Islands. The same fate awaited untold millions of indigenous peoples in the</p><p>Caribbean Islands and Central and South America. The Lucayan Taíno: First People</p><p>of the Bahamas is told from their perspective prior to European contact. It is a story</p><p>in words and paintings, told by Sandra Riley and Alton Lowe, about their culture and</p><p>connection to their natural and spiritual worlds. It is a story created by filmmaker</p><p>Travis Neff in his docudrama Full Circle: a Taíno Story. It is a story told in bronze by</p><p>James Mastin as a memorial to the Taíno. These works of art will endure as reminders</p><p>of the goodness and generosity of spirit that Columbus recognized from the moment</p><p>he first met the island people.</p>