Arawakan

The Arawakan family originated in the Amazon basin, likely in the region around modern Venezuela or the Orinoco River. Over millennia, Arawakan-speaking peoples migrated in all directions — north through the Caribbean islands, south into Bolivia and Brazil, and west toward the Andes. By the time Columbus arrived, Arawakan languages were spoken across a vast area, from Cuba to Paraguay.

The Taíno, an Arawakan people, were the first indigenous Americans Columbus encountered in 1492. Their language became the conduit through which the first American words entered European languages: hurakán (hurricane), kanoa (canoe), hamaka (hammock), barbacoa (barbecue), tabako (tobacco), and many more. These words traveled from Taíno through Spanish to every language in Europe and beyond.

The Taíno population was devastated by disease, enslavement, and colonization within decades of contact. But their linguistic legacy is extraordinary — Taíno words are used by billions of people daily who have never heard of the Taíno. Meanwhile, other Arawakan languages survive in the Amazon, including Wayuu (500,000 speakers in Colombia and Venezuela), Garifuna (on the Caribbean coast of Central America), and dozens of smaller languages in Brazil and Peru.