<P> The oldest evidence of human settlement in the Caribbean has been found at Ortoiroid sites on Trinidad dating to the mid-6th millennium BC . They had reached Hispaniola and Cuba by the mid-5th millennium BCE, where their society is also known as the Casirimoid . The hunter - gatherer Guanahatabey present in western Cuba at the time of Columbus's arrival may have represented a continuation of their culture or more recent arrivals from southern Florida or the Yucatan . </P> <P> The islands were then repopulated by successive waves of invaders travelling south to north from initial bases in the Orinoco River valley . Between 400 and 200 BC, the Saladoid spread north from Trinidad, introducing agriculture and ceramic pottery . Sometime after AD 250, the Barrancoid followed and replaced them on Trinidad . This society's settlements in the Orinoco collapsed around 650 and another group, the Arauquinoid (the later "Taíno" or "Arawaks"), expanded into the area and northward along the island chain . Around 1200 or 1300, a fourth group, the Mayoid (the later "Caribs"), entered Trinidad . They remained dominant until the Spanish conquest . </P> <P> At the time of the European arrival, three major Amerindian indigenous peoples lived on the islands: the Taíno in the Greater Antilles, The Bahamas and the Leeward Islands; the Island Caribs and Galibi in the Windward Islands; and the Ciboney in western Cuba . The Taínos are subdivided into Classic Taínos, who occupied Hispaniola and Puerto Rico, Western Taínos, who occupied Cuba, Jamaica, and the Bahamian archipelago, and the Eastern Taínos, who occupied the Leeward Islands . Trinidad was inhabited by both Carib speaking and Arawak - speaking groups . </P> <P> New scientific DNA studies have changed some of the traditional beliefs about pre-Columbian indigenous history . Juan Martinez Cruzado, a geneticist from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez designed an island - wide DNA survey of Puerto Rico's people . According to conventional historical belief, Puerto Ricans have mainly Spanish ethnic origins, with some African ancestry, and distant and less significant indigenous ancestry . Cruzado's research revealed surprising results in 2003 . It found that, in fact, 61% of all Puerto Ricans have Amerindian mitochondrial DNA, 27% have African and 12% Caucasian . </P>

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