Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
EARLY PEOPLES
The first wave of Arawak Indians from South America arrived here AD 100. They traveled
from the Orinoco Basin in Venezuela, island-hopping through the Lesser Antilles in swift,
mammoth canoes that could carry 100 people. They settled on St Croix and brought with
them well-developed skills in pottery making, fishing, canoe building and farming.
Around 1300, a second wave of Arawak, the Taíno, arrived and set up a community at Salt
River Bay on St Croix as well as settlements on the north shore of St John and St Thomas.
These wayfarers were less skilled at pottery but better than their predecessors at grinding
tools and procuring jewels from stones. The Taíno were also adept at agriculture.
Top Historic Sites
» Annaberg Sugar Mill Ruins, St John
» Fort Christiansvaern, St Croix
» Fort Frederik, St Croix
» Estate Whim Plantation Museum, St Croix
» Salt River National Historic Park, St Croix
Early Spanish chroniclers described the Taíno as short people with straight dark hair, high
cheekbones and muscular, copper-colored bodies. Most of the Taíno wore no clothes. The
copper coloring of their skin was actually a body paint made from plant and mineral dyes.
They favored red, white and blue hues for their faces. While the body paints were considered
fashionable to some degree, they primarily functioned as protection against insects, the trop-
ical sun and evil spirits.
But no body paint could protect the Taíno against the invasion of the Caribs. Master mar-
iners and ruthless warriors, this tribe of Indians left the northern shoulder of South America
during the 15th century and launched a reign of terror, wiping out the Taíno as the invaders
moved north through the Lesser Antilles. By 1493 the Caribs had overrun and mingled with
the major Taíno settlements in the Virgin Islands. The boundary between Carib and Taíno
sovereignty lay between the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.
