New Discoveries Prove Taino Have A Connection To South Carolina & Georgia.

Written By Ktaow

Recently I have found connections between both the Cherokee Nation and Taino Nation. The history is very complex and while writing this article you must understand that Taino were much like the cherokee and had different migrations. You will hear names like Bohicket & Timucoa, but please understand they were considered Taino by other researchers. I will be drawing connections from both Nations complex history and migrations.

Things You Should Know About Taino

  • Taino is a name to generalize the many tribes that were present in the caribbean

  • Taino is known as a trade language

  • We were considered a Nomadic Tribe

  • Recent genetic studies of the Taino state 6 Ancestral migrations of the Taino come from other Arawakan tribes from the Amazon and the 7th from the Chumash. However when referring to Taino they are referring to a specific time frame or wave of migration patterns specifically into the Caribbean.

  • Taino were in Florida. Tribes in Florida that came after which were the Creek and Seminole.

  • There are oral stories of Taino trading Lenape tobacco. Although there isn’t research to support this yet, this is an oral story passed down and was told by a Lenape Chief.

  • It is said Mayans came from Belize to the Caribbean as slaves which can be found in Sven Loven’s Origin Of The Tainan Culture book where he provides the account. Mayans were also in Florida but they were called Maia. Taino are NOT mayan. Mayans are an entirely different people. There is a difference between saying Taino are originally Mayan vs saying Taino may have mixed with Mayans. However from genetic studies we know this is not the case.


Before diving into the connection of Taino in Georgia , you must first be aware the connection is drawn by the Bohicket (Taino) which was said to be one of the tribes from the Cusabo. You might be asking who were the Cusabo? Well they functioned very much like the Taino. Just like the Taino they were groups of tribes that settled along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean in what is now South Carolina, approximately between present-day Charleston and south to the Savannah River, at the time of European colonization. Cusaboan Villages were: Ashepoo, Bohicket, Combahee, Edisto, Escamacu, Hoya, Kiawah, Kussah, Mayon, Stalame, Stono, Touppa, Wimbee, Witcheaugh, Ypaguano (Etiwan).

Taino Connection In Georgia

Taino Linguistic Comparisons to the tribes in Georgia:

Taino like Grammatical Features of Cusaboan

1. Locative Suffix Cusaboan : -bu (-bo), as in Cussah :Cussabo, Sewee : Sewee=boo, Westo :Westoe bou)

Island Carib : -bu 'at' (Taylor 1977:58)

2- Pluralizer Cusaboan Taino: -no (in Ypaguano, Stono)

Taino: -no 'pluralizer' (Taylor 1977:19; used in fonning the name Taino [Taylor 1977:20])

Note: Taino is something misheard by the spanish and it really came from Nitaino.

E. Possible Cognate Lexical Item

Cusabo Toya 'name of a diety (?)' (Laudonniere 1562:314-315)

Taino: tay- 'a high ranking lineage' (the base of the name Taino, Taylor 1977:20)

F. Taino -like Words in Catawba

Catawba: siri'siri- 'rattle, dance rattle, snake's rattle'

Island Carib: Sira '(shaman's) rattle' (Taylor 1977:40)


Catawba : tiriri - thunder

CAIC: Adoro - thunder (Taylor 1977:33)

Guajiro: atiri- 'thunder' (Taylor 1977:38)


Catawba: i-t- 'blood' U-dna?'myblood', t-t?a'?'ourblood')

Island Carib -ita- 'blood' (Taylor 1977:55)


Notes: In terms of the word “Tay” I don’t agree with it being high ranking. Taino was never in the Taino language it was a mistranslation of Nitayno. Research shows Nitaino was not a rank but meaning “My relative" or family”. This word is found in Wayuu, garifuna, and kalinago as well but written and sounded out differently such as nutano, niteigno, etc. Also one could argue because Taino is a trade language, this could have been linguistic mixing and not genetically. HOWEVER, when I dive into cherokee genetics you will understand the comparisons. Also another thing to take into account are the Taino maboya petroglyphs in Georgia (where the cusabo were). Understanding Archeology, we understand Non Native academics look for ceramics in terms of determining if a people settled there or not. There has not been ceramics found (based off my knowledge), however as Indigenous people oral histories are equally just important to us.

Fun Fact: In New York City the tribe most associated with this region are the Lenape however, it is said the Ojibwa were actually in New York City first. I was told this by several Ojibwa. Although there is no “archeological evidence” of this, this is something Ojibwa say and a story passed down in their oral history.

Taino Petroglyphs Found In Georgia

In 1909 a man named Mr. W. H. Roberts was hunting wild turkeys along Sweetwater Creek in Douglas County, GA. He climbed a steep 100 feet high hill that was known to locals as “the Indian burial ground.” It overlooks both Sweetwater Creek and the Chattahoochee River Valley. Native (Indigenous) artifacts are found in abundance on the hill. Roberts discovered carved stone steps that led to a oval ring of stones, approximately 100 feet in diameter. In the center of the stone ring was a four feet high stone tablet (or stela), laying on the ground. To put into perspective this is what he found:


This Is The Batey Found In Georgia

The Batey In Caguana Puerto Rico


Most of the petroglyphs in the North Georgia Gold Belt are extremely abstract and appear to be either star maps, locations of time portals, or some form of communication. The Sweetwater Creek stela (Stone Petroglyph) , portrayed a supernatural being known as a Maboya. The Toa Arawaks (Taino in Georgia) believed that there were “demons” who guarded sacred areas and territorial boundaries. In the Caribbean we know that this is what Maboya were often looked at as, so to witness these comparisons of the batey and the maboya petroglyph just to see how they both fit into each other culturally, is more proof on how Taino were actually here in Georgia. One can say “This isnt enough proof” but then look at the maboya petroglyph in PR and in Georgia. They look exactly identical and it was sent to the University of Puerto Rico where it was confirmed to be the same petroglyph, as confirmed in the research of Maxwell Gibbs.


The presence of the stone tablets in the batey of Georgia suggests that it was a religious shrine or commemorative marker. However, the being (The Maboya) portrayed on the tablet had no similarity or connection to whatsoever realism that was typical of art produced in the ancestral towns of the Creek Indians. Others at first suggested the Maboya petroglpyh was some sort of cherokee writing, however the georgia band cherokee did not arrive here around 1832. The Cherokees are recent arrivals to the Lower Southeast and had no tradition of either stone carving or mound building. Sweetwater Creek was in Creek Indian territory until 1818. After then, until 1832, it was at the southern tip of Cherokee territory, but no Cherokees ever lived there.

Things To Consider

  • There were many similar examples of this type of indigenous art (The Maboya) in the Caribbean. In Puerto Rico, they were concentrated around Arecibo near the north-central coast. It was known as the province of the Toa People when the Spanish arrived. The same ehtnic group also lived in the heart of Cuba in the Toa River Valley.

  • Toa is also the name of a province in central Georgia, which was visited by Hernando de Soto in March of 1540. By that time, they were living in large, planned towns with streets, residential blocks, plazas and garden courtyards. It is said that Taino in Georgia had also evidently absorbed much of the Proto-Creek culture from Muskogean provinces nearby. They described themselves as worshiping one invisible Creator God. Arawak peoples were typically polytheistic and created statues of their gods.

  • The Toa (Taino) later moved westward into Central Alabama to get away from the Spanish and English-sponsored Native American slave raiders. By the mid-1700s, when a glossary was created of their language, they spoke a mixture of Arawak and Muskogean words. Nevertheless, anthropologists classified them as Arawak without ever considering the implications of Arawaks living that far north in North America.

    Signs Of Cultural Influence

    Going further into research that Maxwell Gibbs provided, she states the similarities between Taino, seminole, choctaw, and cherokee. It is evident we went from florida and kept traveling. Things that were said other tribes adopted from Taino, were hunting with blow darts (the aspect of using poison stopped by the cherokee and choctaw. Not to mention, that the blow darts were made out of river cane like the kalinago (island caribs), cranial deformation, tattooing, foods they ate: It is said These connections are confirmed by the existence of shared mythological traditions and southeastern agriculture involving Caribbean cultivars, such as tobacco, corn, peanuts, cotton and tropical squash. DNA testing among the southeastern nations has shown the presence of haplogroups only found in the Caribbean and Central and South America.


The Connection Between Timucua (Taino), The Seminole, And Creek Nation In Florida

Before both the Seminole and Creek civilization, there existed the Timucoa. The Timucoa were the first people who occupied Florida. They were Taino Arawak speaking people who migrated up from the Caribbean and originally came from the Amazonian region of South America. It is said the Timucua language was an Arawakan creol that ultimately derived from the Arawak linguistic group in Amazonia (as spoken there today by the Warao who also are considered cousin tribes of Taino today), but influenced by North American languages through trade and cultural exchange. In this the language went through the same evolution as the Taino language, but seems to have emerged at an earlier point in Caribbean Arawak linguistic history. Timucua (Taino) from northern Florida participated in a broad Southeastern Woodland culture sphere, but preserved their own distinctive traits that reflect their Caribbean origin. This means while we (Taino) were in florida we were already forming a new culture and language. The same way when Columbus came to the Island the language was already mixing. It was normal for Kalinago men to have taino wives and their children spoke both languages. It was said 3 languages were being spoken during the time of contact. The Taino women had their own dialect which is still found in the Garifuna language today, the mixed language between taino and kalinago, and a universal trade language which in the accounts stated in morocovis. If you’re wondering what happened to the Timucua , some were taken to Cuba, while others integrated themselves into other tribes, such as the Seminole. Currently historians are trying to figure out if any descendants of the Timucua exist in Cuba. It is worth noting, Creek people settled in florida AFTER Timucua. So essentially the Timucua and Creek that lived after genocide integrated into Seminole society. It’s possible that Timucua also later became the Toa Arawaks that were later found in Georgia. This would make sense especially seeing the linguistic comparisons, food, and culture which was found to be similar to Taino.

The Cherokee In Georgia Connection

Although commercial DNA tests are not entirely accurate on detecting Native DNA, there was something interesting found about the Cherokee DNA submitted to these companies. The inaccuracy comes from failing to realize Eastern Band tribes were the first to integrate into society which means there was a lot of mixing or admixture. DNA Consultants and journalists are inferring that the research results from the Qualla Reservation apply to all Cherokees. Genetic research associated with the filming of the History Channel’s “America Unearthed” found separate populations of Cherokees outside the reservation with very different genetic profiles. In several counties, the “Cherokees” had profiles identical to Georgia Creeks, and often carried Maya DNA like the Georgia Creeks. In one Georgia county, the “Cherokees” had much higher levels of probable Native American DNA than found on the Cherokee Reservation in North Carolina. However, their Native American DNA was predominantly Quechua from South America, or else mixed Quechua, Maya and probably Creek. Why is this interesting? because there are many Taino who’s DNA says the same, and if you put the pieces together such as the florida connection you understand why the admixture of mayan and creek comes up. One could argue its just As said from an account irritated in sven lovens book of the origin of the tainan culture, he shows mayans were brought from beliz as slaves to the caribbean. But not only that it is said that Mayans were called Maia when they settled in florida. This possibly explains the maya admixture and last but not least the Quechua admixture is complex. As someone who comes from where the entire Quechua civilization originated from it was said My Ancestors the Chavin originally came from the Amazon and migrated up. Not only that but when you look at the Inca’s Elite Quechua dialect called Pukina, you will see arawak from the caribbean was and still is in our language even till this day. It’s just not as prominent. So far, all these connections seem to fit together. One could argue that the DNA tests are not accurate, because DNA tests of today go by a testing type called SNP (SNIP). DNA is so complex it is said the SNP test is one of the most simplistic ways to look at ethnicity. This is why commercial DNA tests such as 23&me or ancestry are not accurate. It can be a hit or miss. However, if you read the book The Tainos: Rise and Decline of the People Who Greeted Columbus , they also refer to the Andes. As someone Quechua who grew up with their culture I can assure you there is Arawakan evidence in Peru with out a doubt. Quechuas and Taino have any similarities spiritually, linguistically, and culturally, Not everything is similar, but there are similarities. That does not mean Taino are Quechua.

The debate: becomes “What is Taino?” if we go by the Non Native Academic rout, they aren’t Taino. If you go by Native ideology, they were ancestors of Taino therefore they were in fact Taino. A friend of mine, a Taino Linguistic research Rene Perez Liciaga and I once exchanged words in Quechua and Taino and found words within the same language such as Aji, Tayta, and many more. There is often a semantic game, on what Taino is and what it isn’t. Who decides whether or not Taino were not Lokono for example. Why Lokono? Because we know Lokono were one of the tribes our ancestors came from. To put it into perspective, I am Quechua born in NYC and moved to Mi’kmaki (Canada) , while speaking would I say im Canadian? American? From New York? Obviously I would say im from Quechua not Peruvian. My tribe is my race and nation. Peru is a country full of other ethnicities that integrated into society. Even if I had to identify as anything, I would say Peru before anything because thats my land and territory. Many Caribbean people lack this nuance in identifier. Today Puerto Ricans say they are Boricua without knowing it means to be Indigenous to PR. So they say it, but lost and changed its meaning to the integration of Puerto Rico. The point being, WHO decides the time period cut off when Taino no longer became Lokono? If you’re ethnically Lokono and born in france you’re still Lokono. You come from a tribe an belong to a community or have lineage in an entire community. As a matter of fact we know in Puerto Rico another identifier was Luku Cairi the same as Lokono. But the Spanish called us Lucayo Hispanicizing the identifier. So it is obvious “Taino” also identified as their Ancestors. This article is not set in stone as fact, but my own opinion on the research. All my readers should be free thinkers and decide for yourself. All my citations can be found below. Do you think Taino were in the east coast?


“Despite all the official Cherokee histories, official State of North Carolina proclamations, “Cherokees-were-the-original-Native-Americans” documentary films and unofficial Cherokee History web sites to the contrary, there is absolutely no archaeological or linguistic evidence that the Cherokee Indians were in North Carolina until the very late 1600s, if not later. Multiple eyewitness accounts by Spanish, French and English explorers placed the Shawnees, Muskogeans, more recently arrived Arawaks/South Americans, Spanish/Portuguese speaking colonists and African colonists throughout the “Cherokee Homeland” as much as 125 years before the word “Cherokee” appeared in an official document.”
— Access Geneology

Possible Rebuttals

1) Taino is a trade language, the language documented in Georgia could be through trade

Re: The language was found fused with taino mayan and creek, who also were found in Florida.

2) Genetic studies show that Taino were not in Florida

Re: There seems to always be a semantic game when it comes to the Name Taino. Taino itself encompassed the multiple small tribes found in the Caribbean. Within the research provided Taino is being used in the context of Arawakan people who migrated from South America> to the Carribean> to Florida> South Carolina > Georgia. NOT just specifically the Caribbean. When you talk about Taino, usually archeologists will refer to a a specific time frame of the culture studying ceramics forming in the carribean. In an indigenous perspective, you also have to acknowledge Non Native Academics lack indigenous nuances. They do not take migration stories from other tribes into accounts, when tribes like seminole, Lenape, and cherokee have stories of us.

My question is, who dictates that these people who migrated to Georgia are or arent Taino? It’s Non Native Academics. There are Hopi Elders who know they descend from the anasazi. There are elders who went to Peru to spend time with my people (Quechua) because they acknowledges us as their ancestors. Just because your people break off into a “sub group” that doesnt mean you arent those people. A good example is there are “Taino” in the caribbean who are ethnically lokono, kalinago etc , however we dont say Taino are lokono because the taino culture became its own culture. That’s not to say Lokono are not Taino’s ancestors nor do they not come from them. That’s just one example. Another example would be like like the Puerto Rican nationality. If you’re Puerto Rican and move to Japan, and you adopt japanese ways. Are you no longer Puerto Rican? Are your Ancestors No Longer Puerto Rican? Who is to say that? This becomes an endless game of semantics depending on who you speak to.

3) The Maboya petroglyph could have been through trade

Re: Yes this could be possible just like the language , but the petroglyph was not only identical to the Maboya Petroglyph in PR, but also the University Of Puerto Rico confirmed this. Not to mention there is an account in Georgia that states Taino were there way before the 1600’s by other tribes in the area.

4) There is no DNA evidence

Re: Tribes like the cherokee and other research like Maxwell Gibbs say that they have haplogroups only found in the caribbean.

Ktaow
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