The Lucayan People

Christopher Columbus landed on the Caribbean islands, not in North America; in fact, he may have had very little to do with the land that is the modern-day United States. Historians know about his work in the Dominican Republic, but they think he landed first on the modern-day Bahamas. His notebooks contain the only descriptions of the Lucayan natives of these islands.

The Lucayans were a group which branched off from the Taino populace, who inhabited the Caribbean in pre-Columbian times. They took to dugout canoes sometime between 500 and 800 AD, traveling to the islands from Hispaniola or Cuba. The Lucayans eventually spread out across the Bahamas, although the exact timeline of their migrations is unclear, and the start dates for their habitation of the various Caribbean islands is disputed. Their peak population in the 1500s was about 40,000, living in small chiefdoms and villages. Their communities were much smaller than the Tainos of Cuba, and there was a language barrier between the groups, but nonetheless the Lucayans were part of the large Taino community of the Greater Antilles and traded with other islands quite regularly.

Multi-household dwellings were the preferred style of living for the Lucayans, as Columbus observed; their shelters were similar in shape to North American native teepees, and could house about 20 people each. Descent was based on the mother's line, which was a constant for the Taino culture; each home contained room for extended families and cousins. While Cuban Taino houses were usually centered around a communal plaza, the Lucayans preferred to arrange their villages in a linear fashion along the coast; apparently everyone could have a beachfront residence.

The Spaniard records espouse the great beauty of the Lucayans; they were graceful, gentle, peaceful, and very good-looking. The population wore very little garb, the men occasionally wore loincloths and the women wore short cotton skirts. Tattoos were popular and frequently covered their entire bodies and ear jewelry and head bands were donned for special events. Ritual head flattening was practiced, and was considered a sign of great beauty.

The Lucayans grew root crops; like all of the Caribbean locals, they were limited in their natural resources. One basic food that was used in Cuba and Hispaniola was the cassava, and it formed the staple food for the Lucayans. They grew peanuts, arrowroot, sweet potatoes, cocoyams, and papayas; it's likely that they took samples of these crops with them when they originally traveled to the Bahamas. Wild mammee apples and tamarinds grew naturally on the islands; there were almost no endemic land animals to hunt, so the Lucayan diet was balanced with fish, mollusks, and sea turtles. They also grew cotton, which they used for linens and clothes, as well as tobacco.


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