Ancient Cuba

By Brett Bailey

Background• Before 1492, Cuba was populated by at least two distinct indigenous peoples: Tato and

Ciboney (or Siboney) (some consider these populations to be neo-Tato nations). These two groups were prehistoric cultures in a time period during which humans created tools from stone, yet they were familiar with gold (caona) and copper alloys (guan 地 ) Copper Age. The Tato agriculturalist and the Ciboney were a self-sufficient society, although their development was not limited to fishing and hunting, farming and production of wooden structures. Tatos and Ciboney took part in similar customs and beliefs, one being the sacred ritual practiced using, often nasally inhaled, narcotized tobacco vapors and particulates called cohoba, is known in English as smoking.The Taino (Island Arawak) were part of a cultural group commonly called the Arawak, which extends far into South America. The wide diffusion of this culture is witnessed even today by names of places in the New World; for example localities or rivers called Guama (the Taino name for Lonchocarpus domingens, a leguminous tree, the designation of a chief (as in Guam a famous Taino who fought the Spanish) are found in Cuba, Venezuela and Brazil.The Arawaks incorporated readily into the successive invading groups and acculturated almost to the point of disappearance. Residues of their poetry, songs, sculpture, and art are found today throughout the major Antilles. The Arawak and other such cultural groups are responsible for the development of perhaps 60% of crops in common use today and some major industrial materials such as rubber. The Europeans were shown by the Native Cubans how to nurture tobacco and consume it in the form of cigars.

• Since 1510 Cuba has became a popular port of call for ships sailing between Europe, Africa, Central America and North America. Consequently, today Cuba has a magnificent diversity of cultures and customs. Nevertheless, Fidel Castro ﾕs overthrow of Fulgencio Batista ﾕ s 20-years of dictatorship on 1 January 1959, and his replacement of the brutal dictator with a Marxist/communist form of government, has resulted in Cuba being polarized by the Western world over the last few decades.Cuban PeopleDue in no small part to the rich history of Cuba, its population is made of a wide tapestry of indigenous people. However, by far the largest part of the population of Cuba today, which currently stands at 11.3 million, are Spanish descendants (60 per cent). The remainder of Cuba ﾕ s population is made up of descendants from Cuba ﾕ s slave trade (Africans make-up 11 per cent of the population) and those of mixed race (accounting for 22 per cent of the population).

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