The Caribbean population can be described as an exciting melting pot of various human cultures (Arawaks, Carib, West African, English, French, Spanish, Dutch, East Indian, Arab and even Chinese). The history of the Caribbean and its cultural fusion can be traced back to the Taino/Arawak Indians.

The original Arawak (or Taino) Indians originated from the Orinoco River area in Venezuela. Living on the lush and hospitable islands of the Caribbean for more than 1500 years the Arawak developed a culture where the human personality was gentle. The word Taino meant "men of the good", and kindness as well as generosity were dominant values among the Taino. The Indians lived in a tropical island world, a land of generous abundance.

The Taino were able to craft canoes that could carry more than one hundred people, and their houses (bohios) were made of palm tree. The wood of the Royal Palm is still today considered the most resistant to tropical rot, lasting untreated as long as ninety years. There was also plenty of cotton, which they wove into mats, hammocks and small sails and fiber ropes (bejucos). The inhabitants never suffered from hunger, as the islands provided a vast array of edible fruits. The women and some of the men harvested corn, nuts, cassava, and other roots. They appear to have practiced a rotation method in their agriculture. While boys usually hunted fowl from flocks, the men forded rivers and braved ocean to hunted giant sea turtles and countless species of fish.

The Taino were rarely taller than five feet six inches, and they painted their bodies with earth dyes and adorned themselves with shells and metals. Men and women chiefs often wore gold in the ears and nose, or as pendants around the neck. Some even had tattoos. Their skin color was olive-brown to copper and they had thick, black hair, short in front and long in back. On some islands the women wore short cotton skirts after taking a permanent man but in others all the people went naked.

The Carib Indians arrived several centuries after the Arawak but came from the same general vicinity of South America. The Taino islands supported large populations that had existed in an environment of Carib-Taino conflict for, according to archeological evidence, one and a half millennia, although the earliest human fossil in the region is dated at 15,000 years. Tainos and Caribs may have visited violence upon one another, and there is little doubt they did not like each other, but there is little evidence to support any thesis that genocidal warfare existed in this world. A Carib war party arrived and attacked, was successful or repulsed, and the Tainos, from all accounts, returned to what they were doing before the attack. In most cases the Taino existence was not really threatened.

Christopher Columbus

On August 3, 1492, Columbus sailed south to the Azores out the port of Palos, in southern Spain. On October 12, 1492, Christopher Columbus arrived at the shores of the island Guanahani in the Bahamas which he renamed San Salvador. Canoes full of curious Arawak men paddled out to the strange, giant ships. Columbus sought information about larger land falls and about the source of golden amulets he received as presents.

From the Bahamas he traveled south and discovered Cuba on October 26. The inhabitants of Cuba told Columbus about another Island where he could find lots of gold. He followed their advice and went further south to discover another island on December 6. He arrived at a magnificent bay which he named St. Nicholas. The island was named Haiti by its Taino/Carib inhabitants. He fell in love with the Island and renamed it Hispanola or Espagnola (little Spain). Most of his future voyages involved the island which is also his alleged final resting place in the Dominican Republic.

The first African slave arrived in the Caribbean around 1502 in the Island of Hispanola. The constant influx of slaves brought from Africa tilted rapidly the demographic balance in favor of the people of African descent. They are today the dominant ethnic group of the Caribbean.

The Spanish Main consisted of the Spanish colonies in America: The mainland from Mexico to Peru plus the Caribbean islands. Many pirates operated in this region, as they knew about the important trading routes and gold shipments through this area. Ground zero for the Spanish Main would probably be Darien on the Isthmus of Panama. The land was rich in wealth, particularly gold, silver, and precious gems. When Spain wasn't trying to Christianize the natives of the area, they were raping, pillaging, and plundering. Unfortunately for Spain, most of the wealth of the Mainland was not located where ships could easily reach it. This meant the gold would be moved by pack animals to fortified ports that were built along the coast. It was at this point that Spain most vulnerable to attack. Some of the key port cities were port cities were Portobello and Darien in the area of present day Panama and Cartagena near present day Venezuela.

Of course the pirates were well aware of the methods Spain used for moving treasure and they were willing to risk the dangers of the mosquito infested swamps in order to relieve Spain of its wealth. Despite heavily armed guards, the trail through the jungle afforded ample opportunity for pirates to ambush the gold trains. The trails were narrow, and did not allow the Spaniards to maneuver. Furthermore the Pirates would often attack at dusk, after the Spaniards had had a long and arduous march through the jungle. If the ambush failed, the Pirates could melt back into the jungle, confident that the Spaniards would not follow.

The soldiers could not pursue the attackers for fear that the ambush was simply a diversion and that the main attack would occur after the Spanish split up their forces. In all, the pirates held the upper hand.

The gold trains would move the treasure to the fortified ports set up along the coast. These fortified ports were probably the best defended locations along the Spanish Main and also the richest. For the most part it was foolhardy to attempt an attack on such a heavily fortified area despite the riches that it contained and pirates rarely bothered to attack such a place. Of course Henry Morgan was an exception to this rule, as was Francis Drake. His most daring accomplishment was the sacking of Portobello (located in modern day Panama). It should be noted, however, that this action was done as a Privateer and with the support of a large fleet commissioned by the England.

The ports themselves had shore batteries with larger cannons than the most of the pirate ships could carry. Combine this with higher, thicker walls, and you have an area that was impervious to attack from the sea. The ports would often get the first and possible the second and third round off before the ships could even get close enough to fire. This is, of course, if you could even get that close because the Ports would also have Galleons on hand which could come out to greet you before you even got with in cannon distance of the port.

The main vulnerability in the ports was their lack of protection from the landward side. Spain assumed that the jungle was good enough protection for this area. For the most part Spain was correct.