Editing Lucayan people (section)

==Origin and settlement==
[[File:CIA map of the Bahamas.png|thumb|right|275px|A map of The Bahamas, excluding the Turks and Caicos Islands, east of Great Inagua off the right edge of the map]]
Sometime between 500 and 800 CE, Taínos began crossing in [[dugout canoe]]s from [[Hispaniola]] and/or [[Cuba]] to the Bahamas. Hypothesized routes for the earliest migrations have been from Hispaniola to the [[Turks and Caicos Islands|Caicos Islands]], from Hispaniola or eastern Cuba to [[Great Inagua Island]], and from central Cuba to [[Long Island, Bahamas|Long Island]] in the central Bahamas. The settlement sites in the Caicos Islands differ from those found elsewhere in the Bahamas, resembling sites in Hispaniola associated with the Classic Taíno settlements that arose after 1200.{{Sfnm|Craton|1986|1p=17|Keegan|1992|2pp=48–62}}

William Keegan argues that the sites on Caicos therefore represent a colonization after 1200 by Taínos from Hispaniola seeking salt from the natural [[Salt evaporation pond|salt pans]] on the island. Great Inagua is closer to both Hispaniola, at {{convert|90|km|mi}}, and Cuba, at {{convert|80|km|mi}}, than any other island in the Bahamas, and sites on Great Inagua contain large quantities of sand-[[Temper (pottery)|tempered]] pottery imported from Cuba and/or Hispaniola, while sites on other islands in the Bahamas contain more shell-tempered pottery ("Palmetto Ware"), which developed in the Bahamas.{{Sfnm|Craton|1986|1p=17|Keegan|1992|2pp=48–62}}

While trade in dugout canoes between Cuba and Long Island was reported by Columbus, this involved a voyage of at least {{convert|260|km|mi}} over open water, although much of that was on the very shallow waters of the [[Great Bahama Bank]]. The Taínos probably did not settle in central Cuba until after 1000, and there is no particular evidence that this was the route of the initial settlement of the Bahamas.{{Sfnm|Craton|1986|1p=17|Keegan|1992|2pp=48–62}}

From an initial settlement of Great Inagua Island, the Lucayans expanded throughout the Bahamas Islands in some 800 years (c.&nbsp;700&nbsp;– c.&nbsp;1500), growing to a population of about 40,000. Population density at the time of first European contact was highest in the south central area of the Bahamas, declining towards the north, reflecting the progressively shorter time of occupation of the northern islands. Known Lucayan settlement sites are confined to the nineteen largest islands in the archipelago, or to smaller cays located less than one kilometre from those islands.{{Sfn|Keegan|1992|pp=25, 54–58, 86, 170–173}}

Keegan posits a north-ward migration route from Great Inagua Island to [[Acklins and Crooked Islands]], then on to Long Island. From Long Island expansion would have gone east to [[Rum Cay]] and [[San Salvador Island]], north to [[Cat Island, Bahamas|Cat Island]] and west to Great and Little [[Exuma]] Islands. From Cat Island the expansion proceeded to [[Eleuthera]], from which [[New Providence]] and [[Andros, Bahamas|Andros]] to the west and Great and Little [[Abaco Islands]] and [[Grand Bahama]] to the north were reached. Lucayan village sites are also known on [[Mayaguana]], east of Acklins Island, and [[Samana Cay]], north of Acklins.{{Sfn|Keegan|1992|pp=25, 54–58, 86, 170–173}}

There are village sites on [[East Caicos|East]], [[East Caicos|Middle]] and [[North Caicos]] and on [[Providenciales]], in the Caicos Islands, at least some of which Keegan attributes to a later settlement wave from Hispaniola. Population density in the southernmost Bahamas remained lower, probably due to the drier climate there, less than {{convert|800|mm|in}} of rain a year on Great Inagua Island and the Turks and Caicos Islands and only slightly higher on Acklins and Crooked Islands and Mayaguana.{{Sfn|Keegan|1992|pp=25, 54–58, 86, 170–173}}

Based on Lucayan names for the islands, Granberry and Vescelius argue for two origins of settlement; one from Hispaniola to the Turks and Caicos Islands through Mayaguana and Acklins and Crooked Islands to Long Island and the Great and Little Exuma Islands, and another from Cuba through Great Inagua Island, [[Little Inagua]] Island and [[Ragged Island, Bahamas|Ragged Island]] to Long Island and the Exumas. Granberry and Vescelius also state that around 1200 the Turks and Caicos Islands were resettled from Hispaniola and were thereafter part of the Classical Taíno culture and language area, and no longer Lucayan.{{Sfn|Granberry|Vescelius|2004|p=80–86}}