Editing Arawak (section)

==Modern population and descendants==
[[File:Tropenmuseum Royal Tropical Institute Objectnumber 60008905 Een groep Arowakken en Karaiben in fe.jpg|thumb|Arawak people gathered for an audience with the Dutch Governor in [[Paramaribo, Suriname]], 1880]]

===Kalinago===
During the beginning of the eighteenth century, the Island Carib population in [[Saint Vincent (Antilles)|St. Vincent]] was greater than that in Dominica. Both the Island Caribs (Yellow Caribs) and the Black Caribs ([[Garifuna]]) fought against the [[Kingdom of Great Britain|British]] during the [[Second Carib War]]. After the end of the war, the British deported the [[Garifuna]] (a population of 4,338) to [[Roatan Island]], while the Island Caribs (whose population consisted of 80 people) were allowed to stay on St. Vincent.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gargallo |first=Francesca |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q_1c9KuQ32EC&pg=PA66 |title=Garífuna, Garínagu, Caribe: historia de una nación libertaria |date=2002 |publisher=Siglo XXI |isbn=978-968-23-2365-2 |language=es}}</ref> The 1812 eruption of [[La Soufrière (volcano)|La Soufrière]] destroyed the Carib territory, killing a majority of the Yellow Caribs. After the eruption, 130 Yellow Caribs and 59 Black Caribs survived on [[Saint Vincent (Antilles)|St. Vincent]]. Unable to recover from the damage caused by the eruption, 120 of the Yellow Caribs, under Captain Baptiste, emigrated to Trinidad. In 1830, the Carib population numbered less than 100. The population made a remarkable recovery after that, although almost the entire tribe died out during the 1902 eruption of [[La Soufrière (volcano)|La Soufrière]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Stanton |first=William |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IOHwmM7ASwIC&pg=PA208 |title=The Rapid Growth of Human Populations, 1750-2000: Histories, Consequences, Issues, Nation by Nation |date=2003 |publisher=multi-science publishing |isbn=978-0-906522-21-9 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Taylor |first=Chris |title=The Black Carib wars: freedom, survival, and the making of the Garifuna |date=2012 |publisher=University Press of Mississippi |isbn=978-1-61703-310-0 |series=Caribbean studies series |location=Jackson}}</ref>

As of 2008, a small population of around 3,400 Kalinago survived in the [[Kalinago Territory]] in northeast Dominica.<ref>{{Cite web |title=World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples - Dominica : Caribs |url=https://www.refworld.org/reference/countryrep/mrgi/2008/en/65036 |access-date=2024-11-08 |website=Refworld |language=en}}</ref> The Kalinago of Dominica maintained their independence for many years by taking advantage of the island's rugged terrain. The island's east coast includes a 3,700-acre (15&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>) territory formerly known as the [[Carib Territory]] that was granted to the people by the [[Government of the United Kingdom|British government]] in 1903. The Dominican Kalinago elect their own chief. In July 2003, the Kalinago observed 100 Years of Territory, and in July 2014, Charles Williams was elected Kalinago Chief, succeeding Chief Garnette Joseph.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kalinago People {{!}} a virtual Dominica |url=https://www.avirtualdominica.com/project/kalinago-people/ |access-date=2024-11-08 |language=en-US}}</ref>

===Lokono===
In the 21st century, about 10,000 Lokono live primarily in Guyana, with smaller numbers present in Venezuela, Suriname, and French Guiana.<ref>{{cite web
| url = https://dice.missouri.edu/assets/docs/awarak/Lokono.pdf | title = Lokono | website = DICE Missouri | access-date = 2024-06-27 }}</ref> Despite colonization, the Lokono population is growing.<ref>{{cite book |last= Olson |first= James Stewart |year= 1991 |title= The Indians of Central and South America: An Ethno-historical Dictionary |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=175c4xOpLtYC&q=Locono|publisher= Greenwood |page= 211 |isbn= 0313263876 |access-date= 16 June 2014}}</ref>

In addition, attempts to save the [[Lokono language]], classified as critically-endangered, have been undertaken. An assessment published by [[Language Documentation and Conservation]] in 2015 determined the number of ethnic speakers who are fluent in the language had declined to approximately five percent of the known population.<ref>{{cite journal
	| last1 = Rybka
	| first1 = Konrad
	| last2 = 
	| first2 = 
	| date = Jan 1, 2015
	| title = State-of-The-Art in the Development of Lokono
	| url = https://www.researchgate.net/publication/303288522
	| journal = Language Documentation and Conservation
	| volume = 9
	| issue = 
	| pages = 110–133
	| access-date = December 30, 2024
}}</ref>

===Taíno===
The Spaniards who arrived in the [[The Bahamas|Bahamas]], [[Cuba]], [[Hispaniola]] (today [[Haiti]] and the [[Dominican Republic]]), and the [[Virgin Islands]] in 1492, and later in [[Puerto Rico]] in 1493, first met the Indigenous peoples now known as the [[Taíno]], and then the [[Kalinago]] and other groups. Some of these groups—most notably the Kalinago—were able to survive despite warfare, disease and slavery brought by the Europeans.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kim |first=Julie Chun |date=2013 |title=The Caribs of St. Vincent and Indigenous Resistance during the Age of Revolutions |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/493901 |journal=Early American Studies|volume=11 |issue=1 |pages=117–132 |doi=10.1353/eam.2013.0007 |issn=1559-0895}}</ref> Others survived in isolated communities with escaped and free Black people, called Maroons.<ref name=":7">Woodaman, Ranald (2017). [https://www.americanindianmagazine.org/story/taino-survival-back-history "Taíno Survival: Back into History"]. ''American Indian Magazine''. '''18''' (4).</ref> Many of the explorers and early colonists also raped Indigenous women they came across, resulting in children who were considered [[mestizo]]. Some of these mestizo groups retained Indigenous culture and customs over many generations, especially among rural communities such as the [[Jíbaro (Puerto Rico)|jíbaro]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Vilar |first1=Miguel G. |last2=Melendez |first2=Carlalynne |last3=Sanders |first3=Akiva B. |last4=Walia |first4=Akshay |last5=Gaieski |first5=Jill B. |last6=Owings |first6=Amanda C. |last7=Schurr |first7=Theodore G. |last8=The Genographic Consortium |date=2014 |title=Genetic diversity in Puerto Rico and its implications for the peopling of the Island and the West Indies |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ajpa.22569 |journal=American Journal of Physical Anthropology |language=en |volume=155 |issue=3 |pages=352–368 |doi=10.1002/ajpa.22569 |pmid=25043798 |issn=0002-9483}}</ref><ref name=":8" />

In time, the number of recorded Taíno was greatly diminished through forced labor, disease and warfare, but also through changes to how ''Indio'' groups were recorded in the Spanish Caribbean. For example, the 1787 census in Puerto Rico lists 2,300 "pure" Indios in the population, but on the next census, in 1802, not a single Indio is listed. This created  the enduring belief that the Taíno people went extinct, also known as the [[paper genocide]]. The paper genocide and the myth of extinction spread throughout colonial empires, Taíno people still continued to practice their culture and teachings passing it down from generation to generation. Much of this was done in secret or disguised through Catholicism in fear for their survival and of discrimination.<ref name=":7" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Baracutei Estevez |first=Jorge |date=2019-10-14 |title=On Indigenous Peoples' Day, meet the survivors of a 'paper genocide' |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/meet-survivors-taino-tribe-paper-genocide |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191017021929/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/2019/10/meet-survivors-taino-tribe-paper-genocide/ |archive-date=2019-10-17 |access-date=2024-11-08 |website=National Geographic |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last1=Magazine |first1=Smithsonian |last2=Poole |first2=Robert M. |title=Who Were the Taíno, the Original Inhabitants of Columbus' Island Colonies? |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/who-were-taino-original-inhabitants-columbus-island-73824867/ |access-date=2024-11-08 |website=Smithsonian Magazine |language=en}}</ref>

With the modern invention of DNA testing, many Caribbean people have discovered they have Indigenous heritage. This has supported the claims of individuals and communities with Taíno heritage living today, particularly in rural areas such as "campos" (meaning small villages/towns in the country side). Though many communities and individuals across the Caribbean have some amount of Indigenous DNA, not all of them identify as Indigenous or Taíno. Those who do identify as Indigenous Caribbean may also use other terms to describe themselves as well as or in addition to ''Taíno''.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Schroeder |first1=Hannes |last2=Sikora |first2=Martin |last3=Gopalakrishnan |first3=Shyam |last4=Cassidy |first4=Lara M. |last5=Maisano Delser |first5=Pierpaolo |last6=Sandoval Velasco |first6=Marcela |last7=Schraiber |first7=Joshua G. |last8=Rasmussen |first8=Simon |last9=Homburger |first9=Julian R. |last10=Ávila-Arcos |first10=María C. |last11=Allentoft |first11=Morten E. |last12=Moreno-Mayar |first12=J. Víctor |last13=Renaud |first13=Gabriel |last14=Gómez-Carballa |first14=Alberto |last15=Laffoon |first15=Jason E. |date=2018-03-06 |title=Origins and genetic legacies of the Caribbean Taino |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |language=en |volume=115 |issue=10 |pages=2341–2346 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1716839115 |doi-access=free |issn=0027-8424 |pmc=5877975 |pmid=29463742|bibcode=2018PNAS..115.2341S }}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite web |title=Genes of 'extinct' Caribbean islanders found in living people |url=https://www.science.org/content/article/genes-extinct-caribbean-islanders-found-living-people |access-date=2022-10-23 |website=www.science.org |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Study identifies traces of indigenous 'Taíno' in present-day Caribbean populations |url=https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/606691 |access-date=2024-11-08 |website=EurekAlert! |language=en}}</ref>
 
There has been increasing scholarly attention paid to Taíno practices and culture, including communities with full or partial Taíno identities. Because of this, Taíno people started to become more open about sharing their identities, passed down Indigenous culture, and beliefs, such as the syncretic religion of Agua Dulce (also known as Tamani) that is practiced in the [[Dominican Republic]].<ref>{{cite web
| title =Agua Dulce in Kiskeya: Tobacco, Casabe, Water and Stone 
| author = Baracutei Estevez, Jorge
| date = Fall 2018
| url = https://www.americanindianmagazine.org/story/agua-dulce-kiskeya-tobacco-casabe-water-and-stone
| website = NMAI Magazine
| access-date =2024-12-30}}</ref> Even before the DNA confirmation in the scientific community, Taíno peoples within the Caribbean and its diasporas had started a movement around the late 1980s and early 1990s calling for the protection, revival or restoration of Taíno culture.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" /><ref name=":4" />

By coming together and sharing individual knowledge passed down by either oral history or maintained practice, these groups were able to use that knowledge and cross-reference the journals of Spaniards to fill in parts of Taíno culture and religion long thought to be lost due to colonization. This movement led to some Yukayekes (Taíno Tribes) being reformed.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" /><ref name=":6">{{Cite journal |last=Neeganagwedgin |first=Erica |date=December 2015 |title=Rooted in the Land: Taíno identity, oral history and stories of reclamation in contemporary contexts |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/117718011501100405 |journal=AlterNative|language=en |volume=11 |issue=4 |pages=376–388 |doi=10.1177/117718011501100405 |issn=1177-1801}}</ref>

Today there are Yukayekes in Cuba,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Cuba's Taíno people: A flourishing culture, believed extinct |url=https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20190205-cubas-tano-people-a-flourishing-culture-believed-extinct |access-date=2024-11-08 |website=www.bbc.com |language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>[https://www.americanindianmagazine.org/story/indigenous-cuba-hidden-plain-sight "Indigenous Cuba: Hidden in Plain Sight"]. ''NMAI Magazine''. Retrieved 2023-09-17.</ref> Jamaica,<ref name=":6" /> and Puerto Rico,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2010 |title=American Indian and Alaska Native Tribes in the United States and Puerto Rico: 2010 (CPH-T-6) |url=https://www.census.gov/population/www/cen2010/cph-t/cph-t-6.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151004223420/https://www.census.gov/population/www/cen2010/cph-t/cph-t-6.html |archive-date=October 4, 2015 |access-date=September 14, 2016 |website=Census.gov |publisher=Census bureau}}</ref> such as "Higuayagua" and "Yukayeke Taíno Borikén".<ref name=":8">Curet, Antonio L. (Spring 2015). "Indigenous Revival, Indigeneity, and the Jíbaro in Borikén". ''Centro Journal''. '''27''': 206–247.</ref><ref name=":5">{{Cite journal |last=Feliciano-Santos |first=Sherina |date=2017-09-01 |title=Prophetic repairs: Narrative and social action among Puerto Rican Taíno |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0271530917300897 |journal=Language & Communication |volume=56 |pages=19–32 |doi=10.1016/j.langcom.2017.03.001 |issn=0271-5309}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Smith |first1=Johnnel |last2=Spencer |first2=Andrew J. |date=2020-01-01 |title="No one will be left behind?" Taíno indigenous communities in the Caribbean and the road to SDGs 2030 |url=https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/whatt-02-2020-0011/full/html |journal=Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes |volume=12 |issue=3 |pages=305–320 |doi=10.1108/WHATT-02-2020-0011 |issn=1755-4217}}</ref> There have also been attempts to revive the Taíno language—such as the Hiwatahia Hekexi dialect<ref>{{cite web
| title =Taíno language returns to its people 
| url = https://ictnews.org/opinion/taino-language-returns-to-its-people
| website = ICT News
| access-date =2024-12-29}}</ref>—using words that have survived into local Spanish dialects and extrapolation from other Arawakan languages in South America to fill in lost words.<ref name=":5" />