Mélange Travel & Lifestyle Magazine October 2018 | Page 302
The Dominican Republic’s
Taino History
© Dominican Republic Ministry of Tourism
Before the arrival of Christopher Columbus and the Spanish, the first inhabitants of the Dominican
Republic were the friendly and peaceful indigenous Taino-Arawak Indians. They lived in thatch
houses, fished and lived off the produce from their agricultural land. Today, you can see signs
of their existence on pictographs and petroglyphs located in caverns in Samaná, Bayahibe, San
Cristóbal, and Enriquillo.