The inhabitants of Hispaniola were displaced by the Taínos, an Arawakan-speaking people, circa A.D. 600.[15] The Taínos called the island Kiskeya or Quisqueya, meaning "mother of the earth", as well as Haití or Aytí, and Bohio.[16] They engaged in farming and fishing,[17] and hunting and gathering.[15] There are widely varying estimates of the population of Hispaniola in 1492, including one hundred thousand,[18] three hundred thousand,[15] and 400,000 to 2 million.[19] By 1492 the island was divided into five chiefdoms.[20]
Within a few years following the arrival of Europeans the population of Taínos had declined drastically, due to changes in lifestyle, smallpox and other diseases that arrived with the Europeans, and enslavement. By 1711 the Taíno numbered just 21,000.[21] The last record of pure Taíno natives in the country was from an 1864 account by a Spanish soldier during the Restoration War, who wrote of Taínos shooting at Spanish soldiers and fleeing. Taíno cave paintings can still be seen in a variety of caves around the country.[22] Remnants of the Taino culture still live on. Their designs of ancient pottery are still used today by skilled ceramic artisans in the small artisan village of Higüerito, Moca.
República Dominicana