When Christopher Columbus first set out to discover the New World, he could not have imagined that he would see some of the most beautiful sights in the world that would undoubtedly take his breath away. As can be seen from his chronicles, the exotic beauty of a particular island in the Caribbean Sea left him absolutely spellbound. In his essay on the discovery of this land of Cuba, he passionately describes the splendor of its exuberant vegetation and landscape; a land of exotic flowers and trees and wide, clear rivers.
“Discovery” is a correct term to use when trying to explain that it was Christopher Columbus who put Cuba on the world map. Even more so, because before Columbus arrived there, this island was already inhabited by a race known as Ciboney. His line of ancestry can be traced back to Central and South America. These people were perhaps the first human inhabitants of Cuba and settled there for several thousand years. The Ciboney tribes were not particularly skilled at agriculture, but were primarily fishermen, hunters, and gatherers.
After the Ciboneys, another community that migrated to Cuba was the Arawak Indians. It is recorded that there were between 50,000 and 90,000 Arawak Indians there at the time of Columbus’ discovery. It has been historically traced that they had probably migrated to Cuba from the Orinoco basin in Venezuela. Another possible area of migration is from the Guianas in South America.
The Arawak Indians were primarily shipbuilders and farmers. There were also many who were experts in ceramics and the creation of wooden artifacts. The people who were skilled in agriculture were called the “Tainos”.
In fact, Cuba gets its name from the Taíno word Cubanacan, which means “central place.”
History records that Columbus discovered Cuba before dawn on October 28, 1492. He first thought he had entered the Asian continent, and became convinced that the name “Cuba,” as the aborigines called it, was the Indian name from Japan. .
He then claimed the land for Spain and named it “Juana”. It is said that Columbus named the island after the infante Don Juan, son of the Spanish monarchs Ferdinand V and Isabella I, who were also his benefactors. There were other names that Columbus successively gave to this land. But in the end, it was the original name “Cuba” that ultimately stuck with the country.
By December 5, 1492, Christopher Columbus had explored the northeast coast of Cuba. He also covered the north coast of Hispaniola. It was there that one of his renowned ships, the Santa Maria, had to be abandoned. One of the natives of the island, the cacique Guacanagari, allowed him to leave behind some of his sailors. As a result of this, Christopher Columbus founded the La Navidad settlement with 39 men.